Hey there everyone!
As the final entry on this week's Friday Reads I have a sequel that is part of my 2014 Series Challenge and that I finally got into reading after being approved for the ARC of the final book (that I will be reviewing soon!).
The Liberator by Victoria Scott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read and really enjoyed The Collector and as soon I was done with it I preordered The Liberator, but once release day came, I had a few other books releasing at the same time and then when I finally started it, I just wasn't feeling the book. Fast forward a few months and now I've been approved for The Warrior (that I also have preordered) on NetGalley, so I had the extra motivation to read this one!
As usual, you can expect some massive spoilers for The Collector in this review, but I will try my best to keep it as spoiler free from the big stuff as possible.
I have to say this book has me in two minds and so my rating sort of reflects that. For the first part (like 43%) of the book I was getting more and more irritated by Dante and his attitude... He seemed to be getting cold feet and refusing to face his own choices he made on The Collector and kept on bullshiting about (pardon my French) and not doing anything about his assignment or anything else. He only seemed to get his crap together to panick about Charlie and how she was acting... We don't know the why's and the how's of what's going on, I kept on crossing my fingers for no love triangle and generally thinking that I was gonna give this book 2 stars. But then... then the book changed!
Dante finally seemed to realize he had a job to do, he finally had a pair of very important conversations with Charlie and realized why the heck he had become a Liberator and what his new job was about! It didn't hurt that Annabelle, Max and Val joined the gang, and we also finally get to see Aspen as more than just Dante's odd assignment and also NOT as a possible side to a love triangle. From that point on, both the plot as well as the action picked up, and the book felt like a 4 stars for me.
I wouldn't say this book suffers from middle book syndrome, because there is character growth and in the second half of it there's plenty of important revelations, happenings and surprises. It didn't feel like a filler at all, but I kept on expecting Dante to get his shit together and realize he's changed sides and he ought to act accordingly sooner than he did!
Charlie had her own issues but she never irritated me as much as Dante did, and I'm glad she put him in his place a pair of times. I still think they make one hell of a cute couple and I loved how she was fierce and wouldn't back down when she felt she had to fight for something or someone.
Aspen was an absolute surprise, at first I kept on fearing she'll be introduced to add a love triangle to the book, but once that proved a silly fear of mine and not a reality, I gave her character a change and totally found myself rooting for her! She's one heck of a kickarse girl!
I'm really glad that I waited to read this one till I had The Warrior on hand, cause the ending was quite evil and even if it's not the most cruel cliffhanger ever, it does have a cliffhanger feel!
All in all, I'm giving The Liberator 3 stars and if I go by the final part of the book 3.5 stars.
View all my reviews
As the final entry on this week's Friday Reads I have a sequel that is part of my 2014 Series Challenge and that I finally got into reading after being approved for the ARC of the final book (that I will be reviewing soon!).
The Liberator by Victoria ScottMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I read and really enjoyed The Collector and as soon I was done with it I preordered The Liberator, but once release day came, I had a few other books releasing at the same time and then when I finally started it, I just wasn't feeling the book. Fast forward a few months and now I've been approved for The Warrior (that I also have preordered) on NetGalley, so I had the extra motivation to read this one!
As usual, you can expect some massive spoilers for The Collector in this review, but I will try my best to keep it as spoiler free from the big stuff as possible.
I have to say this book has me in two minds and so my rating sort of reflects that. For the first part (like 43%) of the book I was getting more and more irritated by Dante and his attitude... He seemed to be getting cold feet and refusing to face his own choices he made on The Collector and kept on bullshiting about (pardon my French) and not doing anything about his assignment or anything else. He only seemed to get his crap together to panick about Charlie and how she was acting... We don't know the why's and the how's of what's going on, I kept on crossing my fingers for no love triangle and generally thinking that I was gonna give this book 2 stars. But then... then the book changed!
Dante finally seemed to realize he had a job to do, he finally had a pair of very important conversations with Charlie and realized why the heck he had become a Liberator and what his new job was about! It didn't hurt that Annabelle, Max and Val joined the gang, and we also finally get to see Aspen as more than just Dante's odd assignment and also NOT as a possible side to a love triangle. From that point on, both the plot as well as the action picked up, and the book felt like a 4 stars for me.
I wouldn't say this book suffers from middle book syndrome, because there is character growth and in the second half of it there's plenty of important revelations, happenings and surprises. It didn't feel like a filler at all, but I kept on expecting Dante to get his shit together and realize he's changed sides and he ought to act accordingly sooner than he did!
Charlie had her own issues but she never irritated me as much as Dante did, and I'm glad she put him in his place a pair of times. I still think they make one hell of a cute couple and I loved how she was fierce and wouldn't back down when she felt she had to fight for something or someone.
Aspen was an absolute surprise, at first I kept on fearing she'll be introduced to add a love triangle to the book, but once that proved a silly fear of mine and not a reality, I gave her character a change and totally found myself rooting for her! She's one heck of a kickarse girl!
I'm really glad that I waited to read this one till I had The Warrior on hand, cause the ending was quite evil and even if it's not the most cruel cliffhanger ever, it does have a cliffhanger feel!
All in all, I'm giving The Liberator 3 stars and if I go by the final part of the book 3.5 stars.
View all my reviews
I think the first book was better than this one, but I enjoyed this book as well. I also have the third book so I'm excited to see how things will go down. I also liked Aspen! I knew she would be a great addition to the cast of crazy-awesome characters. I hope you love the third book! Great review, Pili!
ReplyDeleteAlyssa @ The Eater of Books!
Thanks Alyssa! And yeah, Aspen is an awesome character!
DeleteOkay, I skimmed your review because I haven't read the Collector yet, but it sounds like this one didn't quite meet the bar set by book one. Glad you waited until you had The Warrior though, so you didn't have to suffer long after the evil ending! Love it when I can just pick the next book up immediately:)
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of this one seemed like a step back from where Dante had ended book 1 to me... but it didn't really suffer from middle book syndrome cause there are so many events and characters relevant introduced here! It was a bit of struggle to rate this one!
DeleteI still haven't read this one yet! I enjoyed the Collector for the most part but I've never felt that drive to pick this one up. No clue why :-( I think I'll wait to see how The Warrior goes over and decide from there. Very curious to hear what you think of that one. I hope it is amazing.
ReplyDeleteI hope The Warrior will be awesome too, I'll let you know about it on Monday! Thanks Kristen!
Deleteoh my goodness, thank god. I didn't want to read this book because I feared there would be a love triangle. Thank you for shooing my fears away!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT8Eo4nbbSs
Happy to help, Faye! I would have been happier when reading this one if I had been assured that there was no love triangle either!
DeleteYou're so lucky you got your hands on Warrior to read right after this one! SUPER JEALOUS! haha—but i have to say i pretty much agree with your review. this one didn't suffer from second book syndrome at all but i don't know something still kind of nags me about it. But it's nothing major so i've mostly let it go!
ReplyDeleteI also found Apsen to be a sup rising addition, like you, i thought she'd end up being added for a love triangle and was prepared to throw my book into the fireplace but thanfully she wasn't and she provided a nice new dynamic to the story.
Great review!
Lily @ lilysbookblog
I'm very much enjoying The Warrior now that I've reached the 50% mark, there's a lot of preparation but still plenty of action to keep us on our toes!
DeleteAwesome review Pili! It sounds like Dante finally came around in the latter half of the book. I need to read this series if you recommend it highly, have heard that Dante is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteThe humour is pretty awesome! Dante is a character that you either love or hate! Mostly I love him, with his inappropriate humour and all!
Delete