Tag Archives: Mythology

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A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies

This book has left me confused. I’m confused because it has several of the things that usually annoy me in Young Adult books, and yet…I really enjoyed reading it. The book started out a little slow, but it eventually picked up and made for a very interesting angel story.

Skye was a little murky as a character and I found myself liking pieces of her and annoyed by other parts. She’s not the strongest female character I’ve read, but she’s also not the weakest. I think she has a lot of potential and I’m really hoping she reaches it in the next book.

Asher and Devin were polar opposites, which of course led to the Young Adult love triangle. This one just didn’t feel right. I couldn’t understand why she felt a pull towards either one strong enough to leave her life as much as she did. I felt that Davies could have really done something different and built a romance between Skye and Ian, giving Skye a choice that was her own and not tying the fight between angel sides into it.

Aside from the characters, the origin story really drew me in and held my interest throughout the entire novel. It felt like it was a unique enough take on angels to make it believable and yet something new and fresh. Davies’ writing was also wonderful to read and had a nice flowing style that made going from page to page easy and finding a place to stop reading difficult.

The only other thing that bothered me a bit is the setting. As a native Coloradoan, I was trying to figure out where River Springs would be located. It sounded like it was a mountain town, but there’d occasionally be lines that made me think it was a plains town and it left me feeling a little confused.

A Beautiful Dark is a fresh take on the good vs. bad angel struggle and despite having things that annoy me in the Young Adult genre, I found myself unable to put it down and the ending has me anxiously awaiting A Fractured Light.

 

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The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

I’ve wanted to read this book for a while. As if the description wouldn’t do enough to draw me in, the cover is absolutely gorgeous and I’m a sucker for a pretty book.

I really liked this book. Yovanoff took a story which many people know and made it unique and interesting. She takes a look at good and evil, love, and courage. I loved how the “bad” guys weren’t always bad and the “good” guys weren’t always good. You were rooting for the demon and dreading the angel. It was intriguing to read a book set up like that.

Daphne as a character is left a little clouded and I had to work to put together a picture of her in my head. I liked not being told exactly what she looked like, but instead, given some traits and piecing together a person from my own mind. It connected me to the story in a way that’s rarer for me to find and I loved it.

Truman was yet another wonderful character. He redeems himself from start to end and it’s a testament to Yovanoff’s writing that she was able to make him such a beloved man out of the pieces she started with.

This is a dark book that left me feeling hopeful and happy. The ending felt a little off, but not enough to bother me. I’ll be telling all my friends to pick this book up and give it a read.

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The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

I am a huge fan of Greek mythology. There are so many different stories and so much drama and betrayal and love and war that it’s easy for me to get lost for hours, if not days, searching and reading as much as I can about the Greek religion.

That’s why, as much as I enjoyed this book, I couldn’t give it more stars. If I looked at this book without using Greek mythology as its base, it was an amazing book and I would have loved it completely. However, it is based on a Greek myth, and while I understand the need for artistic license on some things, there are parts of the Greek history I really wish had been followed. Mostly, I felt something was lost when that drama and sex and general craziness was left out and replaced with an almost democratic, nearly Catholic view on some things.

The last thing that bothered me a little bit about the book were the challenges themselves. I was waiting for something that would have me on the edge of my seat, frantically reading and hoping Kate would be able to make it through the test. Instead, I barely realized the tests were happening.

Looking past that, Kate was a great person and I really liked reading her. She was strong, and yet weak enough to make her connectable. Henry was wonderful, but I wish there had been more of their romance depicted. Hopefully that will be shown more in the next novels.

While I felt let down by certain aspects of the novel, I’m so happy I picked this book up to read and I’m anxious to continue reading Kate and Henry’s story later this year.

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Destined by Jessie Harrell

The story of Eros and Psyche is one of my favorites in Greek mythology. There are so many points where they could have turned away from each other and it would have made sense, and yet their love prevails and they spend eternity together. As a bit of a hopeless romantic, I love that.

Harrell’s take on the story, while refreshing, wasn’t what I was expecting. When the story was only Eros and Psyche, I loved it. It flowed and told their story beautifully. However, when other characters came into the mix, it became awkward and it was harder for me to like.

The dialogue is written in 21st century terms, and that really took me out of the story. Reading one of the characters say “crap” was almost like a slap to the face. I was immediately thrown out of the story and had to focus to get back into the flow. Eros and Psyche also had a strange, almost teenager-like attitude towards their respective parents through the book. While it was slightly more understandable for Psyche, I still felt like it made no sense and took me out of the novel.

Overall, this was a decent book. The story of Psyche and Eros is told in an interesting way, even though I felt like it could have been so much better.

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The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

I’m not sure what emotion can be used to describe how I’m feeling about this book. It was a wonderful book and I loved it, but I still want more.

This book is very legend driven and the romance aspect of it doesn’t get in the way of that, which I enjoyed. I was happy the book focused on the legend instead of trying to devote equal time to both and coming up short in the end.

Would I have liked more Puck and Sean? Sure. However, I never thought the book was going to be about them. I went into the book thinking it was going to be about the Scorpio Race and it was. It was about overcoming the limits other put on you and proving to yourself that you can do whatever you set your mind to. Even the romance plays into this; making the characters realize what they can sacrifice in order to come out in the end with what you need.

The characters are amazingly written as well. I’m sure most people will fall for Sean; however, as much as I liked him, Finn was my favorite character. He is so fiercely loyal to Puck, even when he knows he could lose her. He stays by her side and is there for her always, even though he might disagree with what she is doing.

I only wish there had been a couple more chapters at the end devoted to Puck and Sean and their relationship. As much as the book wasn’t about that, I still wanted a tiny bit more of them

Stiefvater is a great young adult author and I thoroughly enjoyed The Scorpio Races.