Mad Musing On: Gameboard Of The Gods By Richelle Mead

THE BLURB: In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such mega-successes  sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

MAD MUSINGS:  This story just reaffirms how much I adore Richelle's writing.  She creates interesting and unique main characters that I wouldn't normally care about, and makes me love them!    Main case here is the male lead - Justin.... He's what I would call a womanizer when we first meet him.  And Mae is the Ice Princess.... seems like a match made in hell, right?   But these two together bring out the softer side in each other, somehow.  My friend, Sarah, said it the best way to me the other day - Those that love with such great passion can also fight with that same passion.  And we can certainly see how that can be the case here!!   Is it strange that, as I was reading about Justin and Mae, all I could think of was these two? 

Just a little Battlestar Galactica fangirling - nothing to see here.....

That's exactly it, right???  Justin and Mae are exactly Gaius and Six!!  LOL

Anyway..... I know that this story is touted as a sci-fi, but I would call it more of a dystopian story.  And they way the story ended - the next one could go off in any direction! I like that I can't guess it.   There's a lot of mention in this story about different gods from other religions (new and ancient) from around the world. There's one 'god' in particular that pertains to Justin, and we are supposed to wonder who it was.. .  I knew all along who it was, because I just happened to do a bit of research into this particular culture for another book recently and the clues were there right at the start.  But it's still cool how bits and pieces are revealed. 

I look forward to another fascinating series from Richelle Mead.

****1/2 stars

  

Mad Musings On: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

The Blurb:

Danger and betrayal, secrets and enchantment in the breathtaking conclusion to the Infernal Devices trilogy

Tessa Gray should be happy - aren't all brides happy?
Yet as she prepares for her wedding, a net of shadows begins to tighten around the Shadowhunters of the London Institute.
A new demon appears, one linked by blood and secrecy to Mortmain, the man who plans to use his army of pitiless automatons, the Infernal Devices, to destroy the Shadowhunters. Mortmain needs only one last item to complete his plan. He needs Tessa. And Jem and Will, the boys who lay equal claim to Tessa's heart, will do anything to save her.

Mad Musings:

I just need to get this out of the way first thing:

OMG THE EMOTIONAL DRAMA!!! I HAVEN'T CRIED THIS HARD OVER A BOOK IN A VERY LONG TIME (Probably since Clockwork Prince came out.... )  Now where's the Kleenex...?  It's been a couple of weeks since I finished this, and I think I can now put my thoughts into some sort of coherent form down on virtual paper....

Even though this series has what seems to be a typical love triangle,  can anyone ever imagine an outcome that satisfies both teams of shippers quite like Cassandra has done in this series?  It's downright astonishing!!  The twists and turns.... oh my!!  And even though, when we finally do find out what Tessa is and how she came to be.... some may have guessed the what part of the question, but not the how part of it.  Brilliant!   I thought I loved Clare's original series, The Mortal Instruments, but my mantra the last few weeks has been "I think this book has put The Infernal Devices as my favourite of Clare's series - I'm as surprised as you are!"  No doubt this sentiment will last for about as long as the time I finally get to read City of Heavenly Fire..... But anyways.....

I really just can't say enough without giving away spoilers, but I will give this bit of advice:  If you are lucky enough to have a first edition of the real book in your hands and you don't want spoilers, resist, I mean really RESIST looking at that tempting family tree behind the jacket cover.  There are spoilers there - I almost cried when I was foolish enough to do it!  I'm serious!!  Don't do it!

I think I just may do a re-read now.... 

*****5+ stars

Mad Musings On: The Lost Prince (Call Of The Forgotten) By Julie Kagawa

The Blurb: 

Don’t look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase’s unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he’d dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister’s world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

Mad Musings:

It was so good to return to The Iron Realm.... sooooo good.  I missed Megan and Ash and Puck.  Although this story isn't really about them.  In this new series we meet Megan's little brother Ethan, all grown up into a surly teenager.  And boy does he have a chip on his shoulder!   It's a good thing he channels that energy through martial arts, or he'd probably explode! (I speak from personal experience here.  This is one of the reasons I also enrolled my son into Kung Fu classes.  He adores it to this day! Anyways....)

 So when this 'bad boy' finally meets a girl he likes and inadvertently has to drag her back into the world he hates so much, one might say it's a life changing experience!  Also, meeting Kierran - who, if you don't already know who he is, I won't tell ;)

I just love the way Julie Kagawa builds her worlds:  in layers, to be slowly revealed one at a time.  She leaves you wanting to know more of the strange and dangerous world of the fae.  I wonder if everyone would be guided by Grimalkin and his unique brand of 'helpfulness' upon entry to the faery world?  Probably not - he wouldn't have that kind of time, and he wouldn't care all that much anyways...

So my only question is, where can we find a glider of our own?  They sound like tremendous fun, just like this book was.

I can't wait to read #2 in the Call of the Forgotten Series: The Iron Traitor.  By the way, that book's cover was recently revealed:

This is Kierran, on the cover.  Say it isn't so!!!!  An iron traitor?!?!?  One would hope it would not be from his own choice!!  So I guess I have to wait to find out..... *sigh*

**** 4 stars 

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and Harlequin Teen for review purposes. Thank you!

Mad Musings On: The Eternity Cure (The Blood Of Eden #2) by Julie Kagawa

The Blurb:

Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.

Mad Musings:

Where to start, where to start..... 

I've literally just finished reading, and I still have tears in my eyes.  And I may have just woken up the house with my loud OMG that I just yelled....  But that's ok, they needed to get up anyways.... I need something to distract my brain...

This was an intense and thrilling ride through zombieland, where your enemies become your allies, and the unexpected shows up... well, unexpectedly!   And I had my suspicions that something wasn't quite right with a certain someone who appears out of the blue, and I was sort of right about that, but now I certainly understand why the title of the series is "The Blood of Eden".   And Allie certainly had to learn to be wary of anyone from her past, because maybe her former allies aren't exactly on her side any more either...

And then there's the devious, bad boy character that I can't help but to picture like this:

Get'em, Jackal!  LOL

Sooooo, Um,  Ms Julie Kagawa..... Um, When is the next book coming out??  Because I really need it YESTERDAY!!! 

Oh yeah, first THIS one has to come out ;)

The Eternity Cure is available on April 30th from Harlequin Teen

***** 5 stars

I received this ARC from Harlequin Teen on Netgalley for review purposes :) Thank you!

Mad Musings On: Beautiful Creatures By Kami Garcia And Margaret Stohl

THE BLURB: 

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

MAD MUSINGS: 

I used this book as an experiment of sorts - I wanted to see if watching the movie first would have any impact on whether or not I liked the book.  I did this because I was hearing from other people who love the series how disappointed they were with the movie!   I thought the movie trailer looked great, so I didn't want to go into it jaded.  So my Hubby and I went on a Valentine's date to see this movie on the opening weekend.  We both quite enjoyed it, although I had questions about some of the characters and the plot, which was to be expected.  

Well, not far into reading Beautiful Creatures, I could already see some of the differences, although to me it's minor things like appearances and, yes, the movie peeps combines a couple of characters into one onscreen person.    That happens more than once, as it turns out.  But I can also understand the reasons the movie bigwigs would do that - it makes the story less complicated by having to track fewer characters - keep it to the main people and the main story line!   Of course there's also the omitted scenes from the book that we always cry out "Why didn't they include this in the movie?"  Personally, I would've liked to see the Winter Ball scene - but I guess it doesn't really advance the main story all that much, so it ends up being deleted - maybe it'll show up in deleted scenes, when DVD release time arrives?  Time will tell...

So, about the book.... I really was surprised at how different Book Ethan was from Movie Ethan.  He was so funny in the movie, and not as much in the book.  But it was kind of cool to see the way the guy feels about a new relationship in a YA book for a change.    I mean, for the most part he wasn't even sure she was his girlfriend!  It makes me want to just whisper in his ear "Dude, you're spending all your time with her, kissed several times, and holding hands.... she's definitely a girlfriend YEESH!"

What I'm still confused about with the book, is the ending.  The movie has a totally different ending, which I though was pretty cool, but the book didn't even hint at that.  Where did producers pull that from?  Is it in the next book, Beautiful Darkness?   Well, I suppose I'm just going to have to read that one to find out....

**** 4 stars

**On a personal note, Margaret Stohl was another of the fabulous authors I had the privilege to meet at the Smart Chicks tour last fall.  She was a delight and kept us all laughing with her hilarious antics.  I was really hoping that some of her sense of humour would appear in her writing, and I was not disappointed :)

Mad Musings On: 'The Indigo Spell' By Richelle Mead

THE BLURB:

In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch--a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood--or else she might be next.


Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, the Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive—this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone’s out for blood.

MAD MUSINGS:

Being a fan of Richelle Mead, and knowing her writing style, I was all set to read The Indigo Spell: the third book in the Bloodlines series.  I had my cup of tea, box of Kleenex, and Prozac prescription ready to go.  Richelle's #3 books are known to be heartwrenchingly traumatic to the extent that you are thinking about things for weeks afterwards.  For example, after reading Shadow Kiss, #3 of the Vampire Academy series (and the series that this sequel series is based on) , I was screaming at the book and was in a funk for at least a week - that's how much I'd come to love the characters.   And same thing with reading Succubus Dreams (#3 of the Georgia Kincade books).  Soooooo good......  

So I was expecting some really drastic wrench to be thrown down at the end of this book too.   Was I right?  Well, I'm happy to report that the prescription was not necessary this time around *WHEW*  but there were moments that had me squirming in my seat - some of it was good, and some of it was because poor Adrian doesn't seem to catch a break! 

Adriannnnnnnnn........ AD-RI-AAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN  (Ahem-I just had to get that out)

I-LOVED-THIS-BOOK.  Richelle, you have done it again.  I'm so glad you have given us, the fans, a chance to love Adrian - because it was a really hard choice when he was 'the-one-who-got-away' in Vampire Academy.   Now, we don't have to make that choice.  And Sydney, poor little Sydney.  She's going to be unstoppable and I can't wait to see her kick some major Alchemist butt.... 

And thank you for not making us wait another year for The Fiery Heart ( Bloodlines #4) - waiting for the fall will be torturous enough!  Oh well, at least I'll have Gameboard of the Gods (Richelle's new Age of X series) to fall in love with verrrrry soon. :)

I can't gush about this enough....

***** 5+Stars

Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters Release Date Confirmed

Release day is FEBRUARY 14, 2014!!!!!  Sweeeeeeetttttt.  I know what we are doing for Valentine's Day next year :D   Can't wait to see Dimitri and Rose in action, and meet the rest of the cast......