Mundie Moms

Friday, October 7, 2016

THE MIDNIGHT STAR by Marie Lu / Blog Tour: Book Review


Welcome to the next stop in Penguin Teen's THE MIDNIGHT STAR blog tour! I am so thrilled to be apart of this tour, and to share my review of the last book in the Young Elites series, as well as a few of my favorite quotes. This book is so good! First, here's a little bit about the book:

ABOUT THE BOOK




By: Marie Lu
Published by: G.P. Putnam & Sons
To Be Released on: October 11th, 2016
Purchase from: Amazon | B&N
Add it to Goodreads
Rating: 4.5 Stars - I Really Enjoyed It
An arc was provided by the publisher, in exchange for my honest review

The thrilling finale to the New York Times bestselling Young Elites series from “hit factory” Marie Lu.

There was once a time when darkness shrouded the world, and the darkness had a queen.

Adelina Amouteru is done suffering. She’s turned her back on those who have betrayed her and achieved the ultimate revenge: victory. Her reign as the White Wolf has been a triumphant one, but with each conquest her cruelty only grows. The darkness within her has begun to spiral out of control, threatening to destroy all that she’s achieved.

Adelina’s forced to revisit old wounds when a new danger appears, putting not only Adelina at risk, but every Elite and the very world they live in. In order to save herself and preserve her empire, Adelina and her Roses must join the Daggers on a perilous quest—though this uneasy alliance may prove to be the real danger.

Bestselling author Marie Lu concludes Adelina's story with this haunting and hypnotizing final installment to the Young Elites series.


What a thrilling conclusion to an exciting series! THE MIDNIGHT STAR is the perfect finale to The Young Elites series. It's one of those endings that leaves you feeling so many different emotions. This book is so good! It's always bitter sweet when a series ends, but this ending was so fitting. It not only wraps up the storyline, it brings the intertwined character journeys full circle. These journeys are ones that are full of heartache, love, loss, redemption, sacrifice, and so much more. 


One of the things I admire Lu's writing with this series, are her characters. I've really come to care for these characters, whether they're good, or bad. I also that that Lu characters don't just make a choice for the sake of making a choice. I hope that makes sense. There are reasons for their choices, and while I don't always agree with those choices, Lu allows me to understand why they are made. All choices have a consequence, and The Midnight Star storyline is when some of those consequences happen. 


Out of all the characters in this series, Adeline is the one who really grew on me the most. I admired her no apologizes type attitude. Sure, she's been brutal and ruthless in her actions, but in some weird way, I've understood why. That doesn't mean I've agreed with her actions, but I've understood them. However, this book is the one where I really felt like I understood her as a whole, as well as the choices she makes. I'm being vague so I don't spoil anything, but she is a character who really comes full circle. She realizes she may not have always made the best choices, though at the time she thought they were. 


There are some other relationships in this book that I just loved reading about. My word, bittersweet doesn't even cover some of the things that happen in this book. Marie Lu is doesn't hold back with the surprises, discoveries, and shocking turn of events. Her characters, the mythology, the world building, and the story itself felt so much richer, and vividly detailed. I loved being back in this world.

The Midnight Star is the ending I've been waiting for. It's dark, it's awesome, it's all the answers I've been waiting to get. It's not the ending I necessarily excepted, but it's the one that needed to happen. It just felt right. Believe me, this ending will leave you with so many book feelings. YES, this book is definitely worth picking up! It was definitely worth the wait! 


FAVORITE QUOTES


"You are a light, and when you shine, you shine bright."


"Do you remember the fire? Under the stars?".... "I remember what we were doing."


"Amazing, isn't it.... how quickly life finds a place for itself when no one is around to keep it out?"


"After a lifetime in Darkness, I want to leave something behind that is made of light." 


"I have everything I could ever want here... You've handed me what feels like the world's riches, a palace, a life of luxury... I get to be at your side. What more do I need?" 

FOLLOW THE SCHEDULE


Week One: 

Monday, 9/26: Expresso Reads (Series Sensory Associations)
Monday, 9/26: Ensconced in Lit (TYE “What Makes a Villain” Discussion)
Tuesday, 9/27: Myriad Inklings (Review/Book Playlist)
Tuesday, 9/27: Two Chicks on Books (Top 5 Reasons to Read TYE)
Wednesday, 9/28: Mike the Fanboy (Villains/Anti-Heroes in Pop Culture List)
Thursday, 9/29: Reading Teen (Guest Post)
Thursday, 9/29: The Starry-Eyed Revue (Midnight Star Look Book)
Friday, 9/30: Bibliophile Gathering (Review)
Friday, 9/30: Brittany’s Book Rambles (Favorite Quotes)

Week Two: 
Monday, 10/3: Once Upon a Twilight (Guest Post)
Tuesday, 10/4: Twirling Pages (Favorite Quotes/Mood Board)
Tuesday, 10/4: Arctic Books (Review + Favorite Quotes)
Wednesday, 10/5: Folded Pages Distillery (Review + Instagram)
Wednesday, 10/5: Fiktshun (Review)
Thursday, 10/6: The Book Nut (Review + Mood Board)
Thursday, 10/6: Bookiemoji (Top 5 Reasons to Read TYE)
Friday, 10/7: Mundie Moms (Review + Favorite Quotes)

Week Three:
Monday, 10/10: The Fandom (Review + Favorite Quotes)
Tuesday, 10/11: Forever young Adult (Guest Post)
Wednesday, 10/12: Owl Always Be Reading (Review + Quotes)
Wednesday, 10/12: Buttermybooks (Favorite Morally Ambiguous Characters)
Thursday, 10/13: IceyBooks (Quote Candy)
Friday, 10/14: Dark Faerie Tales (Guest Post)
Friday, 10/14: A Page with a View (Favorite Fanart)

Week Four: 
Monday, 10/17: The Book Shire (Review + Favorite Quotes)
Monday, 10/17: Seeing Double in Neverland (Review)
Tuesday, 10/18: What Sarah Read (Guest Post)
Wednesday, 10/19: Adventures of a Book Junkie (Top 5 Reasons to Read TYE)
Wednesday, 10/19: YA Bibliophile (Review + Favorite Quotes)
Thursday, 10/20: Eater of Books! (Swoon Thursday)
Friday, 10/21: My My Shelf and I (Bookish Scents)
Friday, 10/21: Oh the Book Feels (Review + Favorite Quotes)

SACRIFICE by Cindy Pon / Blog Tour: Book Review


Hello and welcome to the next stop in the SACRIFICE blog tour! Today's stop features my review and a giveaway! Before you enter to win, here's a little about the book:

ABOUT THE BOOK 


By: Cindy Pon
Published by: Month9Books
Released on: Serpentine #2
Series: September 27th, 2016
Purchase from: Amazon | B&N
Add it to Goodreads

Sacrifice, the sequel to Serpentine, plunges Skybright into the terrifying underworld where demons are bred and whisks her up to the magnificent Mountain of Heavenly Peace where the gods dwell.


Stone is stripped of his immortal status and told to close hell's breach, which mysteriously remains open, threatening mortals.


Zhen Ni, Skybright's former mistress and friend, has been wed to the strange and brutish Master Bei, and finds herself trapped in an opulent but empty manor. When she discovers half-eaten corpses beneath the estate, she realizes that Master Bei is not all that he seems.


As Skybright works to free Zhen Ni with the aid of Kai Sen and Stone, they begin to understand that what is at risk is more far-reaching then they could ever have fathomed.

Picking up right where Serpentine left off, Pon doesn't waste any time thrusting her readers right back into the all that's happening in Skybright's world. This sequel is rich with diversity, lore, and a vivid setting between both the immortal realm Skybright's former human world. 

Pon is a wonderful storyteller. In Serpentine I loved the way she told Skybright's story. I love the legend, the character development, the diversity, the world building, and everything else that made up the first book in the series. I was hooked. With SACRIFICE, Pon continues to hook me with many of those same elements. She takes readers deeper into Skybright's new world with Stone. Readers not only see more to the under world, we also get to continue to see Skybright's progression and changes. 

I really liked Skybright's journey. Along with hers are the continued journey of both Kai, and Zhen Ni. While I liked Skybright's progression, I had some trouble with Kai and Zhen's. I didn't feel they were as strongly developed as they were in the first book. I won't mention specifics for the sake of spoilers, but I felt like Kai's outcome was predictable, though not so much in the manner of what happens. I definitely wasn't excepting Zhen's outcome, but I missed seeing a side of her I felt like I got as a reader with the first book, vs this one. 

One of the things I enjoyed about this story, is the continuation of the rich Chinese mythology Pon beautifully brought to life in Serpentine. It's something I hadn't read much about until I picked up that book, and I enjoyed being immersed in the vivid history, and world Pon continued to developed in Sacrifice. While I may not have enjoyed each of the character journeys as much in this book as I did in the previous book, I loved the world, and getting a deeper look into the mythology of this series. Over all, this was a good book, and one I'd recommend to those who have read Serpentine. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Cindy Pon is the author of Silver Phoenix (Greenwillow, 2009), which was named one of the Top Ten Fantasy and Science Fiction Books for Youth by the American Library Association’s Booklist, and one of 2009′s best Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror by VOYA. Her most recent novel, Serpentine (Month9Books, 2015), is a Junior Library Guild Selection and received starred reviews from School Library Journal and VOYA. The sequel, Sacrifice, releases this September. WANT, a near-future thriller set in Taipei, will be published by Simon Pulse in summer 2017. She is the co-founder of Diversity in YA with Malinda Lo and on the advisory board of We Need Diverse Books. Cindy is also a Chinese brush painting student of over a decade. Learn more about her books and art at http://cindypon.com.
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ENTER TO WIN 

  • One (1) winner will receive a scrabble tile book cover charm (US ONLY)
  • Five (5) winners will receive a digital copy of Serpentine and Sacrifice by Cindy Pon (INT)

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