The Iron King

The Iron King by Julie Kawaga
4/5 stars
363 pages
Published on February 1st 2010
Source: Goodreads

The story:

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

The review:

My thoughts?

I really liked this book for several reasons: 
1. Its universe. Even if the shakespearian characters, and fairies is general, have been used again and again over the centuries, they never cease to surprise me. Every author's take on them is different and that's what I love about this book. Julie Kawaga plays on their character. They appear distant, malignant and-at times-cruel and yet, once you're emerged in their world, their uninviting demeanour starts to make more sense. In the Iron King the fey world is either at war or always on the brink of it therefore shaping the personalities of the fairies that live in it. 


2. Its story. I've read countless of fairy book and most of them have the same story: one of the courts gets tired of being at peace, they cause some kind of commotion, bring in  human or two and then all hell breaks loose. So creating a whole new type of fey really got me hooked. Iron fey, inspired by man's dreams of technology  I love it. Best. Idea. Ever. This stands to show how much we've forgotten the old ways and how comfortable we've become with technology in such little time. What this book states is true: everything is related t technology these days and-honestly speaking-while it makes our lives easier it also serves to radically change who we were. What I mean to say it that the magic is pretty much gone from the world ever since man started explaining things by science and that's kind of sad. We've lost the mystery that used to be a life's dedication for the people of old.

3. The characters. This book is one of the few books I've noticed a real change in characters. Usually in such a series you get to the 3rd or 4rth book until you realise there's been some semblance of change in the main characters but in this one it's immediate. Take Meghan for example. In the beginning of the book she annoyed me. She was shallow, gullible, ungrateful, really scared of everything out of the ordinary, tends to scream and flee quite a lot, and, even when she found herself in the NeverNever, refused to believe her life had radically changed. But as she's confronted with problem after problem her whole point of view changes. She becomes strong, brave, grateful, understanding and a really decent person. Same goes for Ash who, in the beginning couldn't care less about Meghan but comes to realise his feelings for her (I'll get to that in a second) and decides he doesn't want to kill both her and Puck. Puck (or Robbie, Robin, Prankster, whatever floats your boat) on the other hand, is one of the characters that remains the same during the whole course of the story. And he's freaking awesome (and really hot). Same goes for Grimalkin who really reminds me of a cross between the Cheshire Cat and my own fluffball, if the latter could talk (and thank the universe he can't). He just struts in, at random yet very important moments and pretty much makes everyone his bitches. That is just really cool. 

As for things I didn't like, they were few and far between but still worth mentioning:
1. The passionate, romantic, heartbreaking love that grows between love summer princess Meghan and winter prince Ash IS TOO FAST. First he wants to kill her and in the course of one book he suddenly loves her? Come ON!
2. Titania is a vindictive ice bag and Oberon is a wimp, when it comes to dealing with her at least. She just decides that, since he ran off and had a child said child should be treated as a slave AND HE DOESN'T DO ANYTHING. Poor Meghan is work her ass off in the kitchen and he dear old daddy, Oberon, doesn't even seem to care...


ATTENTION ENDING SPOILERS:
3. The last scene with Machina is just downright creepy. I can believe his sweet talk actually works. OR THAT HE GOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO "BRUSH HIS LIPS TO HERS". I mean, big BAD evil dude kidnapped your brother and soulmate but do you fight him the second you see him? NOOOOOO, instead you let him almost sway you with his honey-like words and go all kissy kissy on you BEFORE you realise 'hey! maybe I shouldn't be smooching the EVIL GUY WHO KIDNAPPED MY BROTHER"

I'll be reading the rest of the series, of course, and I hope it turns out just as good as this first book!

Legacies

Legacies (shadow grail 1) by Mercedes Lackey & Rosemary Edghill
2.5/5 stars
320 pages
Published on July 6th 2010
Source: Goodreads

The story:

Spirit White has survived from a deadly car crash that has killed her mother and father and her sister. She has been discovered by a school with special talents, called magic. A couple of months after staying, people begin to disappear, some vanish to be never seen again, so Spirit and her new friends begin the investigation. But will they find out the truth of what is going on? Or will Spirit and her friends suffer a terrible fate from which they don't know about yet?

The review:

My thoughts?

I've read a few books that follow the same storyline as Legacies and I've come to expect exceptional characters, school masters that grudgingly bend the rules, a really evil figure that's usually part of the student body or staff, some form of celestial intervention and finally a strong main character with an awesome power/destiny that's there to really bring the whole thing together and give meaning to the story. This book disappointed me on more than one count.
Spirit White (yes that IS her name) isn't that character, she doesn't have that power/destiny (at least not in book 1) and she most certainly doesn't get cozy enough with any of the teachers to have them bend the rules for her. Instead she builds herself a nice little fortress behind her friends and lets them do most of the heavy work. Granted she doesn't have any magic that she knows of but that's no excuse to slack off and scuttle around like a scared animal.

On the other hand, I loved the friends. They're awesome and actually have the guts to stick it to the 'Powers that are' at Oakhurst. They form a brilliant band and, in my opinion, writing out the characters in such way really helps bring them out and make them essential to the plot.

Where Oakhurst is concerned, I don't like it. While I usually dig the school and how it works but not this time. It's scary how little the headmaster knows about what's going on and how he treats the kids (of course it might be that he's being spelled, just saying) and it's whole attitude is disturbing. It's ok to warn the kids and to train them as hard as you can but pushing them that much and turning them against each other is taking it a bit far...

I liked the rest of the plot, the whole 'kids disappearing because of a band of bloodthirsty magical creatures' is always a success and how Spirit was finally useful makes you think that she might not be that bad but, alas, I still wish there'd been some sort of explosive revelations instead of just a tingle of power. I guess we can't have all we wish for...

Timeless

Timeless by Alexandra Monir
4.5/5 stars
280 pages
Published on January 11th 2011
Source: Goodreads

The story:

When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance.
 
Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives.

The review:

My thoughts?
Best. Book. Ever.
Or one of them at least.
Timeless is just one of those stories that its readers accept and love, even if it does have a less than pleasing ending (of course there's always the sequel, but I'm just saying...).
Michele is the heir to the famous Windsor fortune but her mother ran from that life before she was even born. When tragedy strikes her cozy family, she's forced to move in with the grandparents she's never met and settle in a world foreign and untouchable. No matter how much she tries, she has a hard time fitting in to the prestigious world of the Upper East Side until she stumbles upon a diary left by Clara, one of her ancestors. Traveling back in time, she finds a world she can thrive in and after meeting Philip, she dreads returning to her own time.
Michele is quirky. She's sweet, strong, good hearted and radiates creativity and talent. She's a songwriter, although she's never revealed that talent to anyone other than her mother, when she meets Philip, it's as if a door opens for her and her talent is released onto the world in lyrics so beautiful they caused a sigh to escape my lips. She's one of those characters that are genuinely nice and, in my opinion, totally adorable. Instead of snapping at you and rarely using anything other than irony, Michele prefers to soothe you with gentle words and coax you to your goal. I love this about her. Unlike other authors, Alexandra Monir has created a character who's honestly hard to dislike and that really brings her story together.
Philip. Oh Philip... *swoon* I spend my nights drooling over you... *sigh*. Anyway, Philip completes Michele. He's the one that turns her lyrics into songs. The one that fills her heart and completes a love that transcends time. In the beginning he's a curious character. he's engaged to the Windsor heiress in the 20s, follows the social rules but, from the moment he talks to Michele, it's obvious all that isn't enough for him. Michele is his ticket out of that world. Thanks to her, he breaks his engagement, stands his ground against his uncle's and mother's demands and pursues a career in music, becoming a legend. 

Timeless is the story of a romance that breaks the rules of space and time, uniting two lovers born a century apart. It's one of the few books that had my heart racing at every scene. In fact, the love was so beautifully written that when the two reunited after so long but decided to stay friends, I accepted it instead of letting it ruin the rest of the story. I truly adored the book because it's one of the few that actually managed to make me feel as if I were the main character. 

James Potter and the Vault of Destinies

James Potter and the Vault of Destinies by G. Norman Lippert
2/5 stars
803 pages (in ebook format)
source: sequel to James Potter and the Curse of the GateKeeper

The story:

Follow James and Albus along with the Potter family and friends on their adventures in America.
(Sadly that's all they'll give on goodreads...)

My thoughts?

From my point of view, this book strayed so far from its original intent that it disappointed me. The only reason it can be called fan-fic was because its main characters were in the original HP series.

• The universe changed, instead of taking place in England, they're whisked off to Alma Aleron in good ol' USA, which is nice but The States? Really?
• The nature of magic changed. Lippert wants to explain most aspects of it. Gone are the days where magic was just there and it was mysterious and untouchable to us, mere muggles.
• The whole book veers towards the sci-fi genre. When I approached it, I had magic and mystery in my frame of mind. If I wanted to learn about the different dimensions and how to access them, I would've picked up some scientific paper, not this book.

• The accents and the whole 'American thing'. During most of the book, Lippert is running after his American characters, searching to justify every last stereotype. I've never stayed in America myself for more than a couple weeks at time, but it can't be all that bad. I mean when American films paints us Europeans as posh and, sometimes, utterly ridiculous, we don't feel the need to justify ourselves.

Also, straying from my purpose that it doesn't fit the HP bill, I didn't like the romance in this story. I don't think I've ever said that about a book before... In the second book James spends his year longing for Petra's love but its still superficial. I don't know if the author implies something happening during the summer Petra stayed with James' family, but for a simple crush to turn into a love so strong it rivals that of Lilly towards Harry seems a little far fetched to me. Not to mention the fact that the age difference is a little disarming. She's an adult and he's only 14... And what's this about a budding romance between Lucy and James? I know they're not relate by blood but she's been his cousin since they were both very young Am I the only one who finds this outside her comfort zone...? And, even if that's the case, was it really necessary to have it end that way?

And, I believe this is the only book I've read who managed to take modern day magic and a world like HP's and revive the Arthurian legend all the while sprinkling it with elements belonging to the sci-fi genre. That takes talent but its not what I would've liked for this kind of book. And even then I can't decide. He goes through all this trouble to bring Morgan, Morgan Le Fey, Isabella, who plays a side role in the original Legend, and Judith, The Lady of the Lake and Merlin's supposed former lover, into the game only to kill off, or at least temporarily remove, one of the Legend's main characters...

Finally what about the whole evil professor guy? It was too easy. Most of the book amounts to that moment and you ask yourself: what happened to him? did he actually flee to another dimension? did he die trying to get there? is he still alive and is waiting for the right time to come back and reign chaos on our world? But no. Instead he dies rather mundanely. Picture this: the big bad wolf is stalking your way and he has a huge thunderstorm going on all around him, murder shines through his eyes, he's so evil people cringe away from him, his mind is truly twisted ANDDDD suddenly he's gone because someone put a hole through his heart. Leaves a bitter taste doesn't it? Well now you know how I felt.

Of course, like most books, it wasn't all bad.

• Three words: Winged. Sea. Serpent. How awesome is that? I swear the boat trip in the very beginning must have been, by far, the best part of the book. Including a trip through the last of the great underwater cities had me flying off to the mythical city of Atlantis, crown jewel among ancient cities. 
• I also like the clever reference to the first owners of New York City, the Dutch, and how their original city is the Big Apple's magical twin. As well as the Statue of Liberty being the source of the spell that hides one city from the other.
• The zombie house rocks. And so does the FREAKING ZOMBIE PROFESSOR. The only things missing were a bunch of real werewolves and you'd have the perfect set for a horror movie right there!
• I also appreciated the play on words, even if it was unintentional. You see, Baruti in Greek means gunpowder. I don't know if that somehow fits into the story but it amused me to have a potions' master named after gunpowder. Also the Magical Integration Bureau, when shortened, becomes MIB, which we all know means Men In Black. Again, I have no idea whether this was intentional or not, but it's funny to think if how he makes magicians appear alien to the muggles who work there.
• After two books wait, we finally get some real flying talent! The concept of flat brooms you stand on and use like you would a hover board is awesome, even if it brings it close to sci-fi. Although I have to object to Clutch, the sport. I don't like it. It's too complicated and it looks just like a magical version of American Football (or egghand, as I like to call it) which put me off. But the hover boards are still awesome.
• And, to complete the sport, Lippert resurrected-wait for it-OLIVER WOOD! I was so excited when I found out about him BUT, again, came to be slightly disappointed by how he turned out. He's nothing like the Wood back at good old Hoggies. This one lacks the passion, the fierceness that made his previous version totally awesome. The guy who would do pretty much anything to win, as long as it was within the rules, is reduced to a shadow of himself since he wants to 'play a clean game' and win by skill alone in a game WHERE MAGIC IS ENCOURAGED! It's kind of sad...

But anyway, moving on, this third instalment also left me with a fair amount of questions. Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy, for one. I can't decide if that couple is good or not. I love them both but as a couple? Not so sure
Also what's up with this world between worlds thing? Isn't that where the Gatekeeper supposedly lives?
What's up with this whole three Fates thing? That part has me baffled. The three Fates are represented as mother and two daughters? Old lost love of the greatest sorcerer on earth? A mixture of both? And what's their role in the whole thing? They cause chaos beyond measure and yet they don't really fit into any sort of master plan. What I meant to say is the book would have worked perfectly without the interference of The Fates. And what's this about magic revealed and stuff? I mean, WHY?! Sure the whole series is centred around a similar threat but was revealing magic really the best way to go out with a bang?

Of course this is my POV, one among the many that exist out there, so no need to take what I say for granted. I mean looking at it from a different angle, this would would've been great, had it stood alone. But what with it's ties to the previous books and the Harry Potter series, it didn't fit my bill of what fan-fic should be like.
All in all, it wasn't a bad read, it was easy to get through and I do recommend it if you have nothing else lying around.