Heart of Steel (The Iron Seas #2) By: Meljean Brook

Heart-of-Steel

Heart of Steel (The Iron Seas #2) By: Meljean Brook

Plot:

The Iron Duke introduced the gritty, alluring adventure of the Iron Seas. Now, Meljean Brook returns to the world where nanotech fuses with Victorian sensibilities—and steam. As the mercenary captain of Lady Corsair, Yasmeen has learned to keep her heart as cold as steel, her only loyalty bound to her ship and her crew. So when a man who once tried to seize her airship returns from the dead, Yasmeen will be damned if she gives him another opportunity to take control. Treasure hunter Archimedes Fox isn’t interested in Lady Corsair—he wants her coldhearted captain and the valuable da Vinci sketch she stole from him. To reclaim it, Archimedes is determined to seduce the stubborn woman who once tossed him to a ravenous pack of zombies, but she’s no easy conquest. When da Vinci’s sketch attracts a dangerous amount of attention, Yasmeen and Archimedes journey to Horde-occupied Morocco—and straight into their enemy’s hands. But as they fight to save themselves and a city on the brink of rebellion, the greatest peril Yasmeen faces is from the man who seeks to melt her icy heart.

Review:

Wow, those were some steamy sex scenes. Normally I end up skipping around those but holy cow, nice. They weren’t in your face too much, but they were hot.

Anyway, I read The Iron Duke, the first book in this series in 2012, loved it and then I don’t know what happened. This book has been on my kindle since then and I just didn’t read it. Not sure why because I ended up loving it.

Yasmeen was awesome as a heroine, she was so hard and filled with purpose. She knew what to do and did it, never backing down. I loved her. Archimedes was just as awesome because he recognized her strength and while he still wanted to protect her he didn’t try and take away any of her power. He accepted her for who she was and loved her because of it. I wish there were more books with couples like this cause they were incredible.

As much as I would love to jump into the next book in this series, I just bought a new phone and buying a kindle book for $7.99 is too much, so I’m having to wait on the library.

5/5

A Confusion of Princes By: Garth Nix

a-confusion-of-princes

A Confusion of Princes By: Garth Nix

Plot:

A grand adventure that spans galaxies and lifetimes, A Confusion of Princes is a page-turning thriller, a tender romance, and a powerful exploration of what it means to be human. includes exclusive bonus Garth Nix short story ‘Master Haddad’s Holiday’. I have died three times, and three times been reborn, though I am not yet twenty in the old earth years by which it is still the fashion to measure time. This is the story of my three deaths, and my life between. My name is Khemri. Taken from his parents as a child and equipped with biological and technological improvements, Khemri is now an enhanced human being, trained and prepared for the glory of becoming a Prince of the Empire. Not to mention the ultimate glory: should he die, and be deemed worthy, he will be reborn…Which is just as well, because no sooner has Prince Khemri graduated to full Princehood than he learns the terrible truth behind the Empire: there are ten million princes, and all of them want each other dead.

Review:

It took a while for me to get into this book, mainly because it had a teenage boy as the protagonist. I’m trying to steer clear of books with teenage boys as leads because I seriously cannot relate to them at all, but this was by Garth Nix, I had to read it.

The space setting was really cool and there was a LOT of tech and politics and stuff going on. The world was interesting, though, a bit more hopeless than I like.

Khemri was everything that I hope my children aren’t. Thankfully he grew as a character and that’s what made this book worthwhile. If he’d stayed how he was or only slightly changed it wouldn’t have been worth it, but he did.

Not my favorite Nix book, but it wasn’t bad, it’s also a standalone which feels rare now a days.

3/5

Wynonna Earp (2016-?)

wynonna-earp

Wynonna Earp (2016-?)

Network:

SyFy

Starring:

Katherine Barrell

Melanie Scrofano

Tim Rozon

Shamier Anderson

Plot:

Based on the IDW Comic, Wynonna Earp follows Wyatt Earp’s great granddaughter as she battles demons and other creatures. With her unique abilities, and a posse of dysfunctional allies, she’s the only thing that can bring the paranormal to justice.

Review:

It’s hard to miss the similarities between Supernatural and this show, but I love Supernatural so I’m alright with that. Wynonna is messed up, but can kick ass, and I want her jacket and boots. Her sister seems like the brainy one, I wish you could merge the two, but whatever. The fight scenes looked bad, but what can you expect.

Overall, I like the concept a lot, I hope they put a lot of work into the history of things. I desperately want to have a SyFy show in my routine, I miss Eureka and Warehouse 13, so this has been added.

3.5/5

Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson #9) By: Patricia Briggs

fire-touched

Fire Touched (Mercy Thompson #9) By: Patricia Briggs

Plot:

Tensions between the fae and humans are coming to a head. And when coyote shapeshifter Mercy and her Alpha werewolf mate, Adam, are called upon to stop a rampaging troll, they find themselves with something that could be used to make the fae back down and forestall out-and-out war: a human child stolen long ago by the fae.

Defying the most powerful werewolf in the country, the humans, and the fae, Mercy, Adam, and their pack choose to protect the boy no matter what the cost. But who will protect them from a boy who is fire touched?

Review:

At this point I’d read these characters doing their laundry and enjoy it. I seriously love Mercy and Adam and the entire bunch. That being said, this book wasn’t as—exciting, I guess, as previous books. Battles were fought, world plots moved forward, but the book didn’t grab me and refuse to let go like they normally do, maybe it’s because I never doubted that Mercy and Adam would figure everything out.

The beginning of the book presented a new problem, that I really wish they’d expounded on, but for the most part they just dealt with the Fae side of things. I wanted more detail, I wanted to know what else to expect. I really just want Adam and Mercy to become the rulers of the Tri-Cities and lord over everyone.

I love this series and couldn’t recommend it more. Unlike other series it hasn’t petered off with age, the characters are still fun, the world still interesting, this book wasn’t weak, it just wasn’t my favorite.

Now, I wait impatiently for the next Patricia Briggs book.

5/5

Calamity (Reckoners #3) By: Brandon Sanderson

Calamity by Brandon Sanderson

Calamity (Reckoners #3) By: Brandon Sanderson

Plot:

When Calamity lit up the sky, the Epics were born. David’s fate has been tied to their villainy ever since that historic night. Steelheart killed his father. Firefight stole his heart. And now Regalia has turned his closest ally into a dangerous enemy.

David knew Prof’s secret, and kept it even when Prof struggled to control the effects of his Epic powers. But facing Obliteration in Babilar was too much. Once the Reckoners’ leader, Prof has now embraced his Epic destiny. He’s disappeared into those murky shadows of menace Epics are infamous for the world over, and everyone knows there’s no turning back…

But everyone is wrong. Redemption is possible for Epics—Megan proved it. They’re not lost. Not completely. And David is just about crazy enough to face down the most powerful High Epic of all to get his friend back. Or die trying.

The last book in the series.

Review:

Sanderson really knows how to end a book. It’s always really exciting and has a ton going on, he’s not afraid to kill characters but he doesn’t go around killing everyone. I enjoy that, however, looking back, I’m not sure if I liked the Reckoners series.

I know, I know, I’ve given the previous two books 5 star ratings, but now looking back I’m not so sure. Maybe it was just Calamity that left me wanting, but I distinctly remember in Firefight, when Sanderson basically wiped out an entire team, not feeling anything. I guess it boils down to, I like the story in the Reckoners series, but I haven’t grown attached to the characters. Which, honestly is crazy because I get attached fairly quickly, I at least cry when people die, but each time someone died in this series the living characters didn’t really mourn so the impact of the loss didn’t hit me.

David was better in this book, he didn’t act like an idiot then have a flash of brilliance, but he wasn’t inspiring to me like he was to the other characters. He was supposed to be the new leader of the team and they certainly followed him, but why? He was smart and knew more than they did about the Epics, which is weird since their entire job was taking them out. Oh well, he was the brains they were the brawn.

The world was expanded and the ending opened up a whole slew of new possibilities which made me wish this wasn’t the last book. I liked the series, maybe I’m just down on it right now because I’m sick. I don’t know. It was good, but left me wanting.

4/5