BagEndBooks

The Great Hunt

The Great Hunt - Wendy Higgins Contrary to what the description says, this is not a retelling of the Singing Bone. In the original tale, the older brother (Paxton) was wicked and killed the younger brother (Tiern) after he killed the boar (terrible creature) and then the older brother (Paxton) took the boar and claimed the hand of the princess as his reward. Years later a shepherd sees a bone and uses it to make the mouthpiece of his horn, but whenever he plays the horn it sings a song about how the younger brother killed the boar, only to be killed by his older brother. The king eventually hears the horn singing and questions the older brother who doesn't deny that he killed his younger brother and is, himself killed and buried in unhallowed ground while the younger brother's bones are found and buried in the churchyard. Except the fact that there is an animal and whoever kills it will get the hand of the princess, and there are two brothers involved, there really isn't much in this book to claim that it was inspired by the Singing Bone. And granted this is only the first book of a duology, but given the fact that neither of the brothers killed the beast, and they are on good terms with one another, I find it extremely doubtful that the second book will be able to convince me that this story is a retelling of that story.
 
The good: I thought that Aerity was a good character. Most of the time when female characters are faced with an arranged marriage they whine, sulk or run away. Aerity, for once looks at the problem, weighs the good an arranged marriage will do for her people to the pain it will cause herself, and chooses to accept the burden. I also liked Tiern. He was a sweet and unassuming character who genuinely meant well. Unfortunately, he had almost no reaction to learning that his brother was a lashed, and I didn't think that was normal character behavior. Speaking of the lashed, I found the idea very interesting, and it was the one world-building portion of the book that I thought worked well. I also thought that the first scene was very moving, and it made me feel as thought Wyneth had just lost the love of her life.
 
The hunting scenes were enjoyable. I was convinced that the men knew what they were doing, and the boredom, followed by a few moments of action seemed believable.
The bad: Wyneth spends a couple of weeks mourning for the man who, in only a few minutes (reading via audiobook) I had been convinced she loved deeply, then a pushy jerk of a guy admires her, and pushes a little to hard to convince her to be in love with him or start an affair with him. I would have thought that was an interesting twist in the story if she hadn't reciprocated, but because Wyneth is immediately cast into something of an America Singer (from The Selection series) character ("My heart is broken...but I'm in love with this guy who I just met who is a little too possessive of me...but my heart is broken,") and that kind of ruined both her character, and the good first scene.
 

I hated Paxton. Yes, he is lashed, which is a difficult thing to be right now. No, he's not interested in having children and potentially giving them the magic that makes his life so difficult, but does he have to be such a blasted jerk? His first interaction with Aerity is to leer at her, and in almost every interaction after that he is a complete jerk, and she still falls in wuv with him. Given how unpleasant he is, but also how cute he's supposed to be, my only guess is that Aerity is deeply in lust with him, because even when people have instalove, the other person has to be at least a little bit nice first. Then Paxton spends most of the book being mean to Aerity, but then suddenly decides that he's in wuv with her too.
 
The end was frustrating. Not because of the sequel setup or the fact that Aerity ended up being engaged to the creep who has fallen in lust with her cousin, and her cousin has fallen in wuv with, in fact I thought that was a good set up. Aerity was being forced to truly give up something she wanted for her people, rather than being just lucky enough to get what she wanted, and the premise of a man who was interested in someone else in the castle, and too pushy to be considered a gentleman, being the man Aerity married is, in fact, a very interesting one. But the end fight scene felt forced somehow. Aerity catches up to them, and manages to stab the beast in it's vulnerable spot, but it doesn't die, and instead bats her and knocks her out and breaks her ribs. Then it kills Tiern, and Paxton gives up killing the beast, and his chance to be with the girl he wuvs, who also wuvs him, to "save" Tiern, but Tiern is already dead and Paxton brings him back to life. If Paxton could bring his brother back to life, why wouldn't he have waited a little longer and killed the beast and then done it? It would have made so much more sense if Tiern had been almost dead, instead of dead. Also, for some reason, after all of the tracking and hunting, and fighting with the beast, the fight seemed too fast. It went from, even after having discovered the beasts vulnerable spot, a large group of hunters and warrior women still couldn't kill the beast to three men and one strong-in-character-and-body-but-not-very-practiced-in-fighting girl were able to kill it. And even though Tiern died and Aerity was knocked out, for some reason, the fight still didn't seem dangerous.
 
I don't have high hopes for the romances, or the fairy tale this book was supposedly based after. Still I did enjoy parts of the book, so I'll give the second book a chance to prove me wrong.

City of Glass

City of Glass - Cassandra Clare I know that there are three more books in this series, but this felt like the end of a trilogy? Are we sure that the next three books aren't new trilogy?
 
Clarey was very similar to how she's been in the last two books. She's frustrating, stubborn, impulsive, brave, loving and stupid. I know that she's had character growth over the last two books, but it's hard to pin down how, because, if anything, she is more annoying than she was in the first book. I think Clarey had reason to be angry at her mother, but still, Jocelyn was unconcious for like, a month, and the first thing Clarey does when she sees her is yell at her. I'd understand if she gave her a hug and then yelled at her, but I really don't like that she didn't even show any relief to see her mother.
 
My opinions on Jace are similar to those on Clarey, except that I don't know when I started getting annoyed at Clarey, and Jace has just irritated me from the moment I met him. I do think that he's had some character growth. I like that he's learned to value his life, and he's less arrogant than he was, but he's still pretty arrogant.
 
I didn't really like Jace and Clarey's relationship from the start. I suppose that could be partly from watching too many booktube videos, and knowing that they were brother and sister, but I also just found that they didn't seem good for each other. Or rather, I think that Clarey was good for Jace, but Jace wasn't good for Clarey. He would repeatedly be a jerk to her. There were times when she wasn't very nice to him, but it never seemed like it was on the scale as him to her. It became even worse in this book. He pulled the cliche "I'm being a jerk to protect you" when he lied to her to get her to stay home, and then when he was exceedingly cruel to her, hoping to get her to go back home. Then he thought he had demon blood in him, he thought he was a monster, and instead of resolving to endeavor to be better than anyone thought he could be, he used it as an excuse to be even worse than usual. In some ways I thought that it was a an easy duck out of their relationship problems to make them not really be brother and sister, but given the fact that they continuously gave into their lust for one another, I don't think that they would have been able to fix their relationship. They barely even tried.

I really like Simon in every book, and in every book I find myself thinking that he's gotten the worse deal of the characters. He's constantly picked on by the Shadowhunter characters, and then a lot of bad stuff happens to him on top of that.
 
I like Luke, and I like him as a father figure for Clarey. He always seemed to be a good leader, but he definitely was in this book. Who knew the Shadowhunters would listen to him since he was a downworlder.
 
For some reason, I really like Magnus. He's hilarious. He made me laugh at times when in the next moment laughing was inoppropriate, but I was still laughing at Magnus.
I also like Isabel. Sort of. She is a little bit mean at times, which I don't like, but she got better in this book, and, through her grief for Max we got to see her act a little bit more human.
 
I don't like Alec much. There are times when he seems to have an inflated oppinion of himself.
 
I like Maryse. We don't know her that well, but she loves her children and usually has good interactions with Jace. We didn't get to know Robert well enough for me to have developed an oppinion on him.
 
We didn't see much of Maia in this book, which is too bad because I really liked her in the other books, still, what we did see of her was pretty good, when she saved Clarey and Jace and was snarky because they didn't recognize her in wolf form, and when she reluctantly accompanied Simon into Raphael's camp, and at the end when she and Isabel seem to be friends, but also rivals for Simon's affection.
 
I liked Max too. He was a spot of innocence in this messed up world that Clarey and Simon stumbled into. I do wish we would have gotten to know him better before he was killed. He was starting to seem like a little brother to Clarey, but only starting. They didn't know each other well enough to really become like brother and sister, but they were on their way, and I wish that they could have made it all the way.
I thought Hodge was dead, so I was saddened when he was killed right when he was going to redeem himself. I had liked him in the first book.
 
Never trust that a villain is dead until you see his body. Isn't that what Jace said about Valentine in the last book? So, I know that "Sebastian/Jonathan's" eyes were staring blankly at the sky, but I didn't get the impression he was far enough into the water to be washed away by it, so it seems odd that no one bothered to make sure he was dead after the defeat of Valentine. And I read the description of the next book so I know that he's alive.
 
I don't even know how to feel about the dreadful Angelology in this book. The angels were something distant, almost mythical, in the other books, and I was willing to suspend my disbelief, but are the angels in this book supposed to be literal angels? Because angels don't strictly have bodies (so it would have been impossible for Valentine to hold one captive for decades.) Angels serve God, but they are not gods, which seemed to be their representation in this book.
 
From what I understand, it's best to read the Infernal Devices next, and then continue with the Mortal Instruments series, so Clockwork Prince will be what I read next.
SPOILER ALERT!
City of Glass  - Melody Violine, Cassandra Clare

I know that there are three more books in this series, but this felt like the end of a trilogy? Are we sure that the next three books aren't new trilogy?

 

Clarey was very similar to how she's been in the last two books. She's frustrating, stubborn, impulsive, brave, loving and stupid. I know that she's had character growth over the last two books, but it's hard to pin down how, because, if anything, she is more annoying than she was in the first book. I think Clarey had reason to be angry at her mother, but still, Jocelyn was unconcious for like, a month, and the first thing Clarey does when she sees her is yell at her. I'd understand if she gave her a hug and then yelled at her, but I really don't like that she didn't even show any relief to see her mother.

 

My opinions on Jace are similar to those on Clarey, except that I don't know when I started getting annoyed at Clarey, and Jace has just irritated me from the moment I met him. I do think that he's had some character growth. I like that he's learned to value his life, and he's less arrogant than he was, but he's still pretty arrogant.

 

I didn't really like Jace and Clarey's relationship from the start. I suppose that could be partly from watching too many booktube videos, and knowing that they were brother and sister, but I also just found that they didn't seem good for each other. Or rather, I think that Clarey was good for Jace, but Jace wasn't good for Clarey. He would repeatedly be a jerk to her. There were times when she wasn't very nice to him, but it never seemed like it was on the scale as him to her. It became even worse in this book. He pulled the cliche "I'm being a jerk to protect you" when he lied to her to get her to stay home, and then when he was exceedingly cruel to her, hoping to get her to go back home. Then he thought he had demon blood in him, he thought he was a monster, and instead of resolving to endeavor to be better than anyone thought he could be, he used it as an excuse to be even worse than usual. In some ways I thought that it was a an easy duck out of their relationship problems to make them not really be brother and sister, but given the fact that they continuously gave into their lust for one another, I don't think that they would have been able to fix their relationship. They barely even tried.

I really like Simon in every book, and in every book I find myself thinking that he's gotten the worse deal of the characters. He's constantly picked on by the Shadowhunter characters, and then a lot of bad stuff happens to him on top of that.

 

I like Luke, and I like him as a father figure for Clarey. He always seemed to be a good leader, but he definitely was in this book. Who knew the Shadowhunters would listen to him since he was a downworlder.

 

For some reason, I really like Magnus. He's hilarious. He made me laugh at times when in the next moment laughing was inoppropriate, but I was still laughing at Magnus.

I also like Isabel. Sort of. She is a little bit mean at times, which I don't like, but she got better in this book, and, through her grief for Max we got to see her act a little bit more human.

 

I don't like Alec much. There are times when he seems to have an inflated oppinion of himself.

 

I like Maryse. We don't know her that well, but she loves her children and usually has good interactions with Jace. We didn't get to know Robert well enough for me to have developed an oppinion on him.

 

We didn't see much of Maia in this book, which is too bad because I really liked her in the other books, still, what we did see of her was pretty good, when she saved Clarey and Jace and was snarky because they didn't recognize her in wolf form, and when she reluctantly accompanied Simon into Raphael's camp, and at the end when she and Isabel seem to be friends, but also rivals for Simon's affection.

 

I liked Max too. He was a spot of innocence in this messed up world that Clarey and Simon stumbled into. I do wish we would have gotten to know him better before he was killed. He was starting to seem like a little brother to Clarey, but only starting. They didn't know each other well enough to really become like brother and sister, but they were on their way, and I wish that they could have made it all the way.

I thought Hodge was dead, so I was saddened when he was killed right when he was going to redeem himself. I had liked him in the first book.

 

Never trust that a villain is dead until you see his body. Isn't that what Jace said about Valentine in the last book? So, I know that "Sebastian/Jonathan's" eyes were staring blankly at the sky, but I didn't get the impression he was far enough into the water to be washed away by it, so it seems odd that no one bothered to make sure he was dead after the defeat of Valentine. And I read the description of the next book so I know that he's alive.

 

I don't even know how to feel about the dreadful Angelology in this book. The angels were something distant, almost mythical, in the other books, and I was willing to suspend my disbelief, but are the angels in this book supposed to be literal angels? Because angels don't strictly have bodies (so it would have been impossible for Valentine to hold one captive for decades.) Angels serve God, but they are not gods, which seemed to be their representation in this book.

 

From what I understand, it's best to read the Infernal Devices next, and then continue with the Mortal Instruments series, so Clockwork Prince will be what I read next.

SPOILER ALERT!
The Wishsong of Shannara - Terry Brooks

This is by far the best of the Shannara Chronicles. It took me a while to warm up to it. Afterall, Allanon had said that the Mord Wraiths were not as  bad as the Warlock Lord of the Sword, who was not as threatening as the demons of the Elfstones. I truly did not know how the antagonists could beat those who came before. But they did. Or rather, it did. The Ildatch was worse than any of the other antagonists because it attacked Brin's integrety, and, like the Ring from The Lord of the Rings, it had the ability to take the hero's goodness from them.

 

Another reason why this book managed to impress me more than the previous books was that I was upset over the deaths of characters. In the previous books, only two characters that I knew well and liked had died (Keltset and Amberle, and Amberle did even die, exactly.) <spoiler>I have never been able to decide whether or not I liked Allanon, but I was still saddened by his death.</spoiler> Most of the other characters I had not gotten to know well enough to feel more than a little regret over their deaths. <spoiler>I suspected that Garet Jax would die fairly quickly after meeting him, and his arrogant, almost indifferent attitude prevented me from getting too attached to him. I was somewhat saddened when Foraker and Helt died, but they weren't as close to Jair. I was unreasonably upset over the death of Edain Elessedil. I don't know if if it was because he and Jair seemed to have become such good friends, or because I truly expected him to survive, or because he was Ander's son and Ander had already lossed so many people in The Wishsong, but even as Jair, Slanter and Garet Jax left him and Foraker, I still truly expected Edain to survive. Learning, almost in passing that Brin, Jair, Rone, Kimber and Cogline had "put them to rest" had me, not crying, but moaning with unhappiness.</spoiler>

 

Both Jair and Brin were tested almost beyond their endurance. They were both likeable characters, even if it did take me a bit to warm up to Jair. What's more is that most of the side characters were quite likeable as well. Allanon was almost typical Allanon, but for some reason Brin had more sympathy for him, even though she understood his manipulative ways far more than either Shea or Wil before her, and through her, I found that I liked Allanon more than I had before. Rone Leah was a bit arrogant and annoying (particularly after Allanon magicked his sword) but he loved Brin, and cared for Jair as a brother. Kimber, Cogline and Whisper were introduced too late in the story for me to really learn to love them, but they were interesting. I was really attached to Edain Elessedil for some reason, and he seemed to be a very good friend to Jair, almost like a brother. We didn't know Helt all that well, but he was kind to Jair, reassuring him when Slanter was a jerk. And Slanter. Slanter was incredible. I loved him even as I was annoyed with him for being a jerk. After the first two books where we were told that gnomes were human, finally we were shone that they were human through Slanter. Slanter was irritable, irrascible, frustrating, and far more loveable than he wanted anyone to know. If Keltset could allow the trolls to be able to make peace with the elves, than surely, seeing Slanter would allow the dwarves, elves and men to see that gnomes are not all evil? And then we saw that half the time when the gnomes were fighting against the free peoples, they were doing it at the command of their slavers the Mwellrets. I understand that the gnomes saw Slanter as a traitor and he won't be able to lead them to peace, but because the other races knew Slanter and saw him as human, perhaps they would make an effort with the other gnomes. I do hope so, at any rate. <spoiler>I was very grateful when Slanter survived the story.</spoiler>

 

There was one major plot point that was not resolved. Brin sensed, and the Grimpond said that Rone was too attached to the magic of the Sword of Leah, but it was never really addressed at the end of the book. <spoiler>The Ohmsfords and the elfstones were apparently the only beings/objects left with magic (y'know, except for Amberle/the Elcrys, but they were the only ones left with magic useable by normal beings) and we weren't even sure about the elfstones. Was the magic in the sword destroyed? With Rone's apparent addiction to it, how did he deal with that? If it was not destroyed, how did Brin persuade Rone to give it up?

 

There was also a moment when Brin was shone a vision of her mother and described her as being 'gentle' which made me laugh a bit because, even if she has a husband and children who she loves, and who she can be gentle with, 'gentle' is not a word overall that I would ever have thought to use to describe Eretria.

 

Even with the points I addressed in the last two paragraphs, I really, really liked this book overall. It was better than the two first books. I plan on taking a break from Shannara, and then continuing with the first spin-off series the Heritage of Shannara.

SPOILER ALERT!
City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments #2) - Cassandra Clare, Melody Violine

This book had plenty of suspense. I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

I was uncomfortable with Clary as she and Jace tried to fix their weird relationship. I really liked Clary and Simon, and was saddened by the fact that Clary was using him to distract herself from Jace. Jace is annoying. He's arrogant, selfish and obnoxious, but he does care deeply for people, and will do what he can to save them. I really, really liked the father, daughter dynamic between Clary and Luke, and it was nice to meet the Lightwood parents as well. Even as we saw Maryse pushing Jace away, I still liked that she was trying to protect him, that she still felt like he was her son.

 

I was sad that Simon was turned into a vampire, but it does put him more in the middle of the Shadowhunter world, which I think he may have unconsciously wanted. I liked that he has a potential love-interest in Maia, and that that might help to create tolerance within the two groups.

 

Magnus is kind of fun. He wears weird clothes and has a great sense of humor.

I really like Isabelle, though she is sometimes annoying, and from the little we saw of Max I thought he seemed like he had potential to become an fun and interesting character. I don't like Alec as well for some reason.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about Clary and Jace having superpowers. I guess it would have been difficult for Clary to be accepted into the Shadowhunter realm without her having a something special about her to make people want to teach her, but Jace is already annoyingly arrogant and didn't need superpowers to make him more so. And because he had basically saved everyone's butts I don't think they needed him to have superpowers for them to finally stop blaming him for what his father did.

Overall a this was a good follow-up to the first book

SPOILER ALERT!
The Elfstones Of Shannara - Terry Brooks

I didn't think that there could be a more serious threat to the world after the Warlock Lord, but I was wrong. A giant demon army is more dangerous than a corrupted druid.

 

Wil, the grandson of Shea, is a healer. Inspired by the death of his parents by a fever, he has been studying at Storlock, and he is the first non-gnome to be taught there. He is knowledgeable about the workings of other cultures in the world, but is still gullible enough to fall for their tricks. He knows that he is good at healing, having learned from the best, but he has very little confidence in his ability to protect Amberle. Even though he doesn't trust himself to protect Amberle, Wil does take his responsibilities to her very seriously.

 

Amberle is sweet and innocent, and so full of fear. She was delighted and honored to be one of the Chosen, the first woman in centuries, and proud that the Ellcrys spoke to her far more than to the others, but she started to feel that the tree was stealing her identity, or sense of self. While Amberle's sacrifice was very moving, I couldn't help but think that it would have been more so if she had undertaken the quest with the knowledge of what she would be giving up. If, in her fear of losing herself, she had still been willing to go on the quest, knowing what the cost would be. She has a great deal of sweetness in her, and becomes emotional easily.

 

Eretria is strong, able and full of herself, yet she still manages to be somewhat vulnerable. When you learn what Cephelo has planned for her you can't help but feel bad for her, and even more so when you learn how she came to be in Cephelo's camp. I loved how protective she was of Wisp and I wish Wisp would have survived to learn to live without is strange and somewhat evil mistress. Eretria's morals weren't as strong as Amberle's or even Wil's, but given the fact that she was raised among thieves and cutthroats, it's surprising that she had as strong of morals as she did. When we were first introduced to the Rovers I was not thrilled. It was obvious, with their colorful clothes, travelling wagons and even their name--Rovers--that they  were meant to be a new version of the Roma people. Haven't the Roma experienced enough stereotyping without it showing up even in a fantasy book? None the less, I still did find myself enjoying their strange culture, and the way Eretria was trying to escape from it.

 

Allanon, as before, was the puppet master, getting people to do what he wanted to save the world. Oh, in some ways I like Allanon, and he does seem to love the world. He will do anything to save the races,but if you are the instrument he chooses to use to save them, don't count on him trying to save you. He would sacrifice any person to save the world, though he doesn't seem to care much for the individual person.

 

I found the way that Eventine favored his older son to be very annoying. Why couldn't he love both his children? This one flaw made him seem far less heroic then he might have otherwise. Especially because of how obnoxious Arion is. Arion is arrogant and condescending. He begins to damage his relationship with Ander because Amberle turned more to Ander for comfort after the death of her father, rather than to Arion. From there Arion continued to try to diminish Ander's part in the kingdom, and is stupid enough to be angry at Ander for standing with Amberle when she was the best hope the world had, and she disliked that even more than any of the others. Sadly, Eventine's behavior even managed to throw a shadow over his legacy from the last book.

 

I was saddened to learn that Balinor had no children, though I did like Stee Jans a lot, and he probably wouldn't have come, or at the very least, he wouldn't have been so prominent a character, had Balinor had children who were willing to come to the aid of the elves. I was also somewhat disappointed that we didn't learn what happened to Panamon Creel, or what happened to Menion, especially after the big deal that the Sword of Shannara made of his instalove with Shirl Ravenlock. I was disappointed that we didn't see Durin and Dayel again. We were in their home after all. I was also somewhat taken aback when we didn't get to see Shea again, though I was delighted we got to see Flick. Poor Flick, he knew that Allanon couldn't be trusted to take care of Wil, but Wil went with him anyway. Not that he really had much of a choice since otherwise they likely would have had only a few more months or maybe a year 'til they were all killed by demons, but still, Flick was right when he told Wil not to trust Allanon.

 

I was glad to see that Keltset's sacrifice was not in vain and the trolls came to the aid of the elves, though from the looks of the trailers, the TV show probably ruined that.

The plot was more unique--or at least less obviously pulled from the Lord of the Rings then was that of the Sword, and I was glad to see some strong women for main characters, but I thought there were more points where the plot was weak in this book than in the Sword.

 

One thing that I forgot to mention in my review of the Sword is that I really like the way that all the races (except for the elves) are referred to as men or as mankind, even the gnomes, even when they are fighting for an evil cause and willing to wipe out everyone else, their humanity is still acknowledged.

 

Overall I still really like this series, though as with the last book, I don't know how a conflict could possibly be more dangerous than this one was.

The Elfstones Of Shannara (The Shannara Series)

The Elfstones Of Shannara (The Shannara Series) - Terry Brooks I didn't think that there could be a more serious threat to the world after the Warlock Lord, but I was wrong. A giant demon army is more dangerous than a corrupted druid.

Wil, the grandson of Shea, is a healer. Inspired by the death of his parents by a fever, he has been studying at Storlock, and he is the first non-gnome to be taught there. He is knowledgeable about the workings of other cultures in the world, but is still gullible enough to fall for their tricks. He knows that he is good at healing, having learned from the best, but he has very little confidence in his ability to protect Amberle. Even though he doesn't trust himself to protect Amberle, Wil does take his responsibilities to her very seriously.

Amberle is sweet and innocent, and so full of fear. She was delighted and honored to be one of the Chosen, the first woman in centuries, and proud that the Ellcrys spoke to her far more than to the others, but she started to feel that the tree was stealing her identity, or sense of self. While Amberle's sacrifice was very moving, I couldn't help but think that it would have been more so if she had undertaken the quest with the knowledge of what she would be giving up. If, in her fear of losing herself, she had still been willing to go on the quest, knowing what the cost would be. She has a great deal of sweetness in her, and becomes emotional easily.

Eretria is strong, able and full of herself, yet she still manages to be somewhat vulnerable. When you learn what Cephelo has planned for her you can't help but feel bad for her, and even more so when you learn how she came to be in Cephelo's camp. I loved how protective she was of Wisp and I wish Wisp would have survived to learn to live without is strange and somewhat evil mistress. Eretria's morals weren't as strong as Amberle's or even Wil's, but given the fact that she was raised among thieves and cutthroats, it's surprising that she had as strong of morals as she did. When we were first introduced to the Rovers I was not thrilled. It was obvious, with their colorful clothes, travelling wagons and even their name--Rovers--that they were meant to be a new version of the Roma people. Haven't the Roma experienced enough stereotyping without it showing up even in a fantasy book? None the less, I still did find myself enjoying their strange culture, and the way Eretria was trying to escape from it.

Allanon, as before, was the puppet master, getting people to do what he wanted to save the world. Oh, in some ways I like Allanon, and he does seem to love the world. He will do anything to save the races,but if you are the instrument he chooses to use to save them, don't count on him trying to save you. He would sacrifice any person to save the world, though he doesn't seem to care much for the individual person.

I found the way that Eventine favored his older son to be very annoying. Why couldn't he love both his children? This one flaw made him seem far less heroic then he might have otherwise. Especially because of how obnoxious Arion is. Arion is arrogant and condescending. He begins to damage his relationship with Ander because Amberle turned more to Ander for comfort after the death of her father, rather than to Arion. From there Arion continued to try to diminish Ander's part in the kingdom, and is stupid enough to be angry at Ander for standing with Amberle when she was the best hope the world had, and she disliked that even more than any of the others. Sadly, Eventine's behavior even managed to throw a shadow over his legacy from the last book.

I was saddened to learn that Balinor had no children, though I did like Stee Jans a lot, and he probably wouldn't have come, or at the very least, he wouldn't have been so prominent a character, had Balinor had children who were willing to come to the aid of the elves. I was also somewhat disappointed that we didn't learn what happened to Panamon Creel, or what happened to Menion, especially after the big deal that the Sword of Shannara made of his instalove with Shirl Ravenlock. I was disappointed that we didn't see Durin and Dayel again. We were in their home after all. I was also somewhat taken aback when we didn't get to see Shea again, though I was delighted we got to see Flick. Poor Flick, he knew that Allanon couldn't be trusted to take care of Wil, but Wil went with him anyway. Not that he really had much of a choice since otherwise they likely would have had only a few more months or maybe a year til they were all killed by demons, but still, Flick was right when he told Wil not to trust Allanon.

I was glad to see that Keltset's sacrifice was not in vain and the trolls came to the aid of the elves, though from the looks of the trailers, the TV show probably ruined that.

The plot was more unique--or at least less obviously pulled from the Lord of the Rings then was that of the Sword, and I was glad to see some strong women for main characters, but I thought there were more points where the plot was weak in this book than in the Sword.

One thing that I forgot to mention in my review of the Sword is that I really like the way that all the races (except for the elves) are referred to as men or as mankind, even the gnomes, even when they are fighting for an evil cause and willing to wipe out everyone else, their humanity is still acknowledged.

Overall I still really like this series, though as with the last book, I don't know how a conflict could possibly be more dangerous than this one was.
Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood - Liesl Shurtliff

I think I liked this book more than I liked Rump. Oh, Rump was good, but there were times when I was getting bored wondering when something was going to happen. Not so with Red. I couldn't figure out where the story was going and I couldn't wait to find out. I liked the inter-weaving of so many different fairy tales, and I especially liked meeting the dwarves and hearing some of their points of view. Red and Goldie's friendship developed well, and it was nice to see. I would have liked to see Rump again, but oh well.

SPOILER ALERT!
The Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks

I really enjoyed this book. Yes, I could see the obvious imitation of Lord of the Rings. There were times when I was laughing because the imitation was so blatant, and it became only too easy to refer to the characters by the names of their Middle Earthen counterparts. But, for some reason, I still really enjoyed it.

 

The characters had some differences from the LOTR characters, most notably Allanon. He is ancient, mysterious and magical like Gandalf, but unlike Gandalf, Allanon does not have the trust of Shea (Frodo) when he appears to send him on his quest. Frodo trusted Gandalf completely, as a friend and a mentor. Allanon not only doesn't have Shea and Flick's trust, he doesn't even try to earn it, obscuring information and guiding them with half-truths. The company or 'fellowship' trusts Allanon more from necessity than because he as actually gained their trust. Gandalf was honest with Frodo from the start of the quest. Frodo knew it would be dangerous. He knew there was a good chance he wouldn't succeed. He knew he probably wouldn't survive.

 

Shea understood the undertaking was dangerous, but he never understood the full danger. He didn't realize that in order to wield the sword and defeat the Warlock Lord, he would have to undergo a test of mental and spiritual strength, whereas Frodo was aware of the fact that the Ring would test him in this way before he even arrived and Rivendell. Shea is brave, and he does accept the task forced on him by circumstances, but he doesn't have the strength that Frodo has. Frodo knew, and accepted everything that happened to him, and willingly volunteered to take the Ring to Mordor. Shea is practically forced to go along when Menion gets into conflict with Allanon, apparently with the sole purpose of getting Shea to come. And Shea would have had to come, but he would have been a stronger character if he had chosen this on his own. One gets the impression that, even if Sam had not come with Frodo, Frodo would have been able to hold his own in the wilderness (without Sam, Frodo may not have had the strength to resist the Ring, and we all know what would have happened in Cirith Ungol without Sam, but Frodo could have taken care of himself on his own, at least at first,) whereas Shea is practically helpless the moment he finds himself on his own.

 

Menion was difficult to pin with a LOTR counterpart. His ability to irritate Allanon made me think of him as Pippin, but his ability to fight made him seem more like Legolas or Aragorn. I really liked Menion except for two things. First, his obnoxious instalove with Shirl Ravenlock, and second, his very annoying habit of leaving his sword lying around only to notice it's absence when he most needs it.

 

Like Samwise, Flick managed to become one of my favorite characters. He is the character who I'd say paralleled his LOTR counterpart the most in this series, being loyal, brave when he had to be, and simple in his desires.

 

Durin and Dayel are one part Legolas, one part Merry and Pippin, since they care for each other and largely remain together, though the fact that Dayel has a fiancé waiting for him back home makes him seem very un-Lord of the Rings-like.

 

Hendel, being a dwarf, was the obvious character to parallel Gimli, but Hendel lacked Gimli's temper and impetuousness, so he seems to be a blend of Aragorn, Gimli and, oddly enough, Gandalf. Hendel is older than any of the others in the company, accepting Allanon, and he has far more battle knowledge than any accept the Druid, he even seems wiser than Balinor, who I would peg as the most Aragorn-like of the characters.

 

Orl Fane was even nuttier than Sméagol. Gollum/Sméagol had some sanity still in him. He may have had a dual personality disorder, and been addicted to the Ring, but he was still able to use his reason. Brona, 'the Warlock Lord,' 'the Dark Lord' (between Sauron, Brona and Voldemort, you'd think that authors would be able to come up with another title besides Dark Lord,) is obviously Sauron. The Skull Bearers are clearly Ringwraiths, though they aren't quite as fearsome as the wraiths, and, unlike the wraiths, they don't have a clear number.

 

Panamon Creel and Keltset Mallicos are more enigmas. Who are they supposed to represent? Panamon is the type of roguish character we see a lot of in fiction now, but is not present in Lord of the Rings. Keltset is another of my favorite characters in this series. He couldn't speak, and Shea and Panamon know little about him, but, in a time when trolls seem to have joined the Warlock Lord against the free peoples, Keltset is there proving that not all trolls are bent on destruction without question.

 

Much of the plot also mirrored LOTR, until Shea was separated from the others. This too had some similarities to LOTR, but in LOTR, Frodo willingly separates from the group, taking Sam with him. In The Sword of Shannara, Shea is separated by accident, and Flick is unable to go with him. Because of this I found the plot somewhat different, and I honestly wondered what would happen. The lack of a Boromir character also helped to keep the plot somewhat different. The closest person to Boromir was Palance Buckhannah, and even he was far more like Denethor (because he was mad) or Théoden (because he was being controlled by an evil advisor) than like Boromir. The Battle of Tyrsis is like a combination of the Battle for Helms Deep and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. The destruction of the Warlock Lord is a mirror of the destruction of the Ring. Allanon's going away to sleep and recover his strength is like Gandalf's going to the Gray Havens. Shea and Flick's return home is like an odd combination of the returns of Frodo and Bilbo to the Shire at the end of their respective adventures. Like Frodo, Shea has been deeply affected by his adventure, but like Bilbo, he seems to be fairly content in his undisturbed, undestroyed home, and doesn't have to go to the Gray Havens.

 

The Sword of Shannara may be a blatant imitation of The Lord of the Rings, but at least it's a good imitation, which is more than I can say for Eragon. Since the villain was defeated and the threat to the world was ended, I honestly don't know where the plot of the next books can possibly go, but I'm willing to find out.

SPOILER ALERT!

The Sword of Shannara

The Sword of Shannara - Terry Brooks I really enjoyed this book. Yes, I could see the obvious imitation of Lord of the Rings. There were times when I was laughing because the imitation was so blatant, and it became only too easy to refer to the characters by the names of their Middle Earthen counterparts. But, for some reason, I still really enjoyed it.
 
The characters had some differences from the LOTR characters, most notably Allanon. He is ancient, mysterious and magical like Gandalf, but unlike Gandalf, Allanon does not have the trust of Shea (Frodo) when he appears to send him on his quest. Frodo trusted Gandalf completely, as a friend and a mentor. Allanon not only doesn't have Shea and Flick's trust, he doesn't even try to earn it, obscuring information and guiding them with half-truths. The company or 'fellowship' trusts Allanon more from necessity than because he as actually gained their trust. Gandalf was honest with Frodo from the start of the quest. Frodo knew it would be dangerous. He knew there was a good chance he wouldn't succeed. He knew he probably wouldn't survive.
 
Shea understood the undertaking was dangerous, but he never understood the full danger. He didn't realize that in order to wield the sword and defeat the Warlock Lord, he would have to undergo a test of mental and spiritual strength, whereas Frodo was aware of the fact that the Ring would test him in this way before he even arrived and Rivendell. Shea is brave, and he does accept the task forced on him by circumstances, but he doesn't have the strength that Frodo has. Frodo knew, and accepted everything that happened to him, and willingly volunteered to take the Ring to Mordor. Shea is practically forced to go along when Menion gets into conflict with Allanon, apparently with the sole purpose of getting Shea to come. And Shea would have had to come, but he would have been a stronger character if he had chosen this on his own. One gets the impression that, even if Sam had not come with Frodo, Frodo would have been able to hold his own in the wilderness (without Sam, Frodo may not have had the strength to resist the Ring, and we all know what would have happened in Cirith Ungol without Sam, but Frodo could have taken care of himself on his own, at least at first,) whereas Shea is practically helpless the moment he finds himself on his own.
 
Menion was difficult to pin with a LOTR counterpart. His ability to irritate Allanon made me think of him as Pippin, but his ability to fight made him seem more like Legolas or Aragorn. I really liked Menion except for two things. First, his obnoxious instalove with Shirl Ravenlock, and second, his very annoying habit of leaving his sword lying around only to notice it's absence when he most needs it.
 
Like Samwise, Flick managed to become one of my favorite characters. He is the character who I'd say paralleled his LOTR counterpart the most in this series, being loyal, brave when he had to be, and simple in his desires.
 
Durin and Dayel are one part Legolas, one part Merry and Pippin, since they care for each other and largely remain together, though the fact that Dayel has a fiancé waiting for him back home makes him seem very un-Lord of the Rings-like.
 
Hendel, being a dwarf, was the obvious character to parallel Gimli, but Hendel lacked Gimli's temper and impetuousness, so he seems to be a blend of Aragorn, Gimli and, oddly enough, Gandalf. Hendel is older than any of the others in the company, accepting Allanon, and he has far more battle knowledge than any accept the Druid, he even seems wiser than Balinor, who I would peg as the most Aragorn-like of the characters.
 
Orl Fane was even nuttier than Sméagol. Gollum/Sméagol had some sanity still in him. He may have had a dual personality disorder, and been addicted to the Ring, but he was still able to use his reason. Brona, 'the Warlock Lord,' 'the Dark Lord' (between Sauron, Brona and Voldemort, you'd think that authors would be able to come up with another title besides Dark Lord,) is obviously Sauron. The Skull Bearers are clearly Ringwraiths, though they aren't quite as fearsome as the wraiths, and, unlike the wraiths, they don't have a clear number.
 
Panamon Creel and Keltset Mallicos are more enigmas. Who are they supposed to represent? Panamon is the type of roguish character we see a lot of in fiction now, but is not present in Lord of the Rings. Keltset is another of my favorite characters in this series. He couldn't speak, and Shea and Panamon know little about him, but, in a time when trolls seem to have joined the Warlock Lord against the free peoples, Keltset is there proving that not all trolls are bent on destruction without question.
 
Much of the plot also mirrored LOTR, until Shea was separated from the others. This too had some similarities to LOTR, but in LOTR, Frodo willingly separates from the group, taking Sam with him. In The Sword of Shannara, Shea is separated by accident, and Flick is unable to go with him. Because of this I found the plot somewhat different, and I honestly wondered what would happen. The lack of a Boromir character also helped to keep the plot somewhat different. The closest person to Boromir was Palance Buckhannah, and even he was far more like Denethor (because he was mad) or Théoden (because he was being controlled by an evil advisor) than like Boromir. The Battle of Tyrsis is like a combination of the Battle for Helms Deep and the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. The destruction of the Warlock Lord is a mirror of the destruction of the Ring. Allanon's going away to sleep and recover his strength is like Gandalf's going to the Gray Havens. Shea and Flick's return home is like an odd combination of the returns of Frodo and Bilbo to the Shire at the end of their respective adventures. Like Frodo, Shea has been deeply affected by his adventure, but like Bilbo, he seems to be fairly content in his undisturbed, undestroyed home, and doesn't have to go to the Gray Havens.
 
The Sword of Shannara may be a blatant imitation of The Lord of the Rings, but at least it's a good imitation, which is more than I can say for Eragon. Since the villain was defeated and the threat to the world was ended, I honestly don't know where the plot of the next books can possibly go, but I'm willing to find out.
An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir

I liked this book, but I'm not sure it deserved all the hype. While Laia was not a normal character in YA literature (finally, someone who's a little bit different,) but Elias is a fairly typical oblivious character who is rebelling against his government, who, unlike everyone around him, can see that what his people are doing is wrong.

 

Laia is afraid. She runs away. She has to learn how to get over her fear. She doesn't have the type of 'fiery' personality that most YA characters boast until they all start to seem the same. Laia is strong, but it is not obvious to her, or to us. Her strength is more subtle, even as she begins be more courageous.

 

 

Elias, as I said before, was annoying. He continues to hurt Helene over and over again. We're expected to believe that he is wise enough to see past the social barriers and understand that the Scholars are people the same as others, but he's so obtuse that he can't even see that Helene loves him. He is so afraid of ruining their friendship by acknowledging the fact that they both have feelings for the other, beyond those of plutonic friendship, that he ruins their friendship by rejecting, and hurting her again, and again.

 

I don't like Laia and Elias's relationship at all. They each have their own love interests. Laia and Keenan have acknowledged their attraction, which makes Laia's behavior with Elias feel like cheating. Elias and Helene's relationship, while unacknowledged, feels far more genuine than Laia and Keenan's, which makes me resent the fact that Elias keeps brushing her off in favor of Laia.

 

We don't know Laia's brother very well, but she is willing to do anything to save him. I felt that the sword smith, what was his name again? seemed like a very interesting character. Hopefully we'll see more of him in the next book

 

I am curious about Cook and what Laia's mother did in the resistance to create such admiration from so many, and so much hate from Cook. We are told little about Laia's mother, and even less about her father, yet from what little we learned, I can't help but think that Laia's admiration, almost hero-worship, of her mother would be better directed at her father. Cook's story about Djinn and the scholars was actually quite fascinating. I predict that Laia will have to try and make amends for the evil the Scholars did all those generations ago. I also enjoyed Izzy's character, and hope we see her in the next book.

 

The villains in this book were really scary and evil. Once in a while it's nice to see villains that aren't there to make you question what is good and what is evil with their tragic backstories, still I honestly cannot understand how the Commandant can be as cruel as she is, if anything, her brief backstory made it even harder for me to understand her evil. Marcus (like the Commandant) has been brought up in a society that believes Scholars are less than. From the look of things it also appears that he is used to the 'boys will be boys, girls will be garbage' approach to how he treats women in general, not just scholars. Besides those two nasty characters that are impossible to identify with, there is the leader of the Resistance, who seems to be quite villainous in the fact that he is so blinded by hate that he is willing to destroy his own people to get revenge on those who have enslaved them, and the Augurs, who appear to be willing to switch sides, depending on what suits them.

 

The book starts off with a bang, then gets boring until the last quarter or so. As with so many other YA series', I find myself unimpressed, and willing to just skip the rest of the series, only to have it pick up and get interesting at the end, hooking me to read the next book and hope that it gets interesting more quickly than the first.

An Ember in the Ashes

An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir I liked this book, but I'm not sure it deserved all the hype. While Laia was not a normal character in YA literature (finally, someone who's a little bit different,) but Elias is a fairly typical oblivious character who is rebelling against his government, who, unlike everyone around him, can see that what his people are doing is wrong.

Laia is afraid. She runs away. She has to learn how to get over her fear. She doesn't have the type of 'fiery' personality that most YA characters boast until they all start to seem the same. Laia is strong, but it is not obvious to her, or to us. Her strength is more subtle, even as she begins be more courageous.

Elias, as I said before, was annoying. He continues to hurt Helene over and over again. We're expected to believe that he is wise enough to see past the social barriers and understand that the Scholars are people the same as others, but he's so obtuse that he can't even see that Helene loves him. He is so afraid of ruining their friendship by acknowledging the fact that they both have feelings for the other, beyond those of plutonic friendship, that he ruins their friendship by rejecting, and hurting her again, and again.

I don't like Laia and Elias's relationship at all. They each have their own love interests. Laia and Keenan have acknowledged their attraction, which makes Laia's behavior with Elias feel like cheating. Elias and Helene's relationship, while unacknowledged, feels far more genuine than Laia and Keenan's, which makes me resent the fact that Elias keeps brushing her off in favor of Laia.

We don't know Laia's brother very well, but she is willing to do anything to save him. I felt that the sword smith, what was his name again? seemed like a very interesting character. Hopefully we'll see more of him in the next book

I am curious about Cook and what Laia's mother did in the resistance to create such admiration from so many, and so much hate from Cook. We are told little about Laia's mother, and even less about her father, yet from what little we learned, I can't help but think that Laia's admiration, almost hero-worship, of her mother would be better directed at her father. Cook's story about Djinn and the scholars was actually quite fascinating. I predict that Laia will have to try and make amends for the evil the Scholars did all those generations ago. I also enjoyed Izzy's character, and hope we see her in the next book.

The villains in this book were really scary and evil. Once in a while it's nice to see villains that aren't there to make you question what is good and what is evil with their tragic backstories, still I honestly cannot understand how the Commandant can be as cruel as she is, if anything, her brief backstory made it even harder for me to understand her evil. Marcus (like the Commandant) has been brought up in a society that believes Scholars are less than. From the look of things it also appears that he is used to the 'boys will be boys, girls will be garbage' approach to how he treats women in general, not just scholars. Besides those two nasty characters that are impossible to identify with, there is the leader of the Resistance, who seems to be quite villainous in the fact that he is so blinded by hate that he is willing to destroy his own people to get revenge on those who have enslaved them, and the Augurs, who appear to be willing to switch sides, depending on what suits them.

The book starts off with a bang, then gets boring until the last quarter or so. As with so many other YA series', I find myself unimpressed, and willing to just skip the rest of the series, only to have it pick up and get interesting at the end, hooking me to read the next book and hope that it gets interesting more quickly than the first.

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life

The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life - James Martin I went into this book expecting humor at every turn. Instead, what I got was an informative and insightful guide to spirituality with stories of saints, as well as personal stories from the author. And yes, there was some humor, but it wasn't the focus of the book (I believe my expectations of humor can be mainly attributed to the brought orange and yellow cover, as well as the (almost) because for some reason brackets in a title makes me expect humor.) Still, despite my expectations, once I got into the book and realised that this was not a book of Jesuit, or even Catholic jokes, but an excellent introduction to Saint Ignatius's teachings, I found that I really enjoyed it, and learned a great deal. I also admired the fact that that the author, a Jesuit, was able to take practices and insights from Judaism, Islam and even Buddhism, and use their rituals to praise the God of the Trinity in a way that was still very Catholic. I listened to this via audiobook, but I also own a physical copy, for which I am grateful, because this book would be a good one to be able to go back to chapters and re-read parts.

Sword and Verse

Sword and Verse - Kathy MacMillan I'm not really sure what to rate this one. During the first couple of chapters I thought it was going to be fantastic. I loved the depiction of writing, and the fact that we have a female character who is strong in learning, but not fighting for once. I thought Raisa's crush on Mati was cute. I thought that the descriptions of the writing symbols and runes were interesting. I liked the times where Raisa's hardship was described, and her capture was interesting, but because she was a tutor, and was pampered (compared to other slaves) and had relatively few hardships, we didn't get the impression that slavery was very hard. Yes we saw some whipping scars on other slaves, but that was telling, not showing. Overall Raisa seems to have adjusted to slavery too quickly and easily, even though she was only six when she was captured. It might have been a better story if it had started at Raisa's capture, instead of telling about it in flashbacks, and if there had been more focus on the hardship of slavery, and less focus on the romance. I was also confused by the talk of 'Learned Ones' on the islands. I thought that on the islands everyone learned to read and write, and only in Kilara were these skills limited, but the fact that the islands had 'Learned Ones' made it seem like the islanders limited the skills in a way similar to the Kilarans.

And then the romance started and what was cute as a crush came out in a nauseating depiction of lust being passed off as love. I wished that the author had left the romance as a crush until the end when Mati and Raisa could have had a relationship without the sneaking around. I felt that, if Mati had really loved Raisa he wouldn't have let the relationship go as far as it had. It's one thing for people in love to risk themselves to be physical in a relationship. It's something different if they are risking each other. If Mati had loved Raisa instead of just being infatuated with her, then he wouldn't have let the relationship go on for that long, or become so physical. The middle of the book was just romance or Raisa moping because of the lack of romance, and that was very, very annoying. The romance also made Raisa stupid. When Janna found Raisa's hidden papers in the Adytum, she made it to have been an accident. Mati was smart enough that he already knew that Raisa was hiding papers, but Raisa should have taken Janna aside and told her that she couldn't tell anyone about the hidden papers. If Janna was smart enough to lie and claim to be an orphan, than she would have been smart enough to understand that she had to keep quiet about the hidden papers if Raisa had asked her to. But Raisa was neglecting her duty to raise Janna, instead going back to her affair with Mati and letting other servants take care of her, so I guess it's not really all that surprising that her stupidity and neglect led to her getting into trouble.

Eventually, I think that Raisa and Mati's relationship became real, and I stopped minding it so much, but it took a very long time. It wasn't until after all of Raisa's lies and stupidity were shown to Mati, and he still protected her, still loved her, that I started to believe his lust may have turned into love. The descriptions of the end battle were muddled and confused. I don't think the author was very good at describing fighting. The way she talked about it, it seemed like the fighting only happened where Raisa was watching. If she wasn't looking at a battle it froze, and if she looked back at it, it began again. The wrap up wasn't well done either. It was very fast, and I thought it was weird that suddenly everyone went from wanting to murder Raisa to practically worshipping her.

There were parts of this book that were good, but they were rare, and had long gaps of boring scenes and poor writing in between them. I think that Kathy MacMillan has potential as an author, but she didn't even come close to fulfilling it with this book.

City of Bones

City of Bones - Cassandra Clare I liked this book a lot more than I expected. I thought Clarey was a decent main character. I didn't much like most of the others. Jace was conceited and obnoxious, and I've watched enough booktube videos to feel uncomfortable as I watched his and Clarey's relationship forming. I liked Simon well enough, but I thought his attempts to make Clarey jealous were very immature. Isabel and Alec were not terribly interesting, and seemed rather unpleasant, though Isabel, at least, had some character growth at the end. Luke seemed like a good character, and I actually rather like him. He has an interesting story and seems to be a good father figure for Clarey.

The world created in this book seems to be well formed, and interesting. The plot was somewhat predictable, (except for her love-interest being Clarey's brother, but because of this series's popularity on booktube I already knew that) but I still enjoyed the book.

I went into this book expecting not to like it much, expecting to only read the first book so that I could say that I had. This book surprised me, and I intend to keep going with the series.

Blackbird

Blackbird - Anna Carey 2nd person point of view. Eurgh. I really didn't care about the characters, except for maybe the narrator, but I think I'd have connected to her more if the story had been told in 1st person instead of 2nd person. Still, it kept me reading. I needed to know how it ended, only it didn't. And that, more than 2nd person POV or my inability to connect to the characters, is why I didn't like this book. We get a few answers, but not many, and we don't know if she and her friend get away. I guess I expected something better from Anna Carey, after the Eve trilogy. I guess there is a sequel that finishes this story, though I was thinking it was a standalone.